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Territorial governance for the environment can be the result of exogenous public actions in local territories but also of local initiatives leading to a dialogue developing in public spheres. The analysis of a sample of about three hundred such local initiatives throughout Mainland France enables us to observe their diversity and study the way in which they complete, rectify, or inspire public policies and to identify their impacts. Because they lead to innovation, they contribute to the creation of a debating mid-stratum that serves as a basis for the construction of the compromises required by sustainable development. They also lead to the emergence of new organized proximities on specific scales suitable to new environmental challenges, shift territorial borders, and contribute to endowing territories with specific social capital. Yet they remain unrecognized. In this paper, we outline what public policies in support of such forms of governance could be.