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Our paper analyses the construction and implementation processes of local climate policies taking environmental policies as an analytical framework. Climate change, currently designated as “the climate problem”, is considered as a new object for collective action. The analysis makes a distinction between mitigation actions that aim to reduce identified causes of the problem (control and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions) and adaptive actions designed to anticipate the consequences and effects of climate change. Based on an analysis of institutional and scientific literature and on observations collected since 2005 via several research projects on the integration of climate issues into regional and local actions (Bertrand et Larrue, 2007; Bertrand et Rocher, 2007; Bertrand et al. 2012), the paper focusses on two characteristic dimensions of local environmental action: first the territorialization of climate action considered through two periods of institutionalization – the time of pioneers and the time of generalization –, and second the terms of operationalization of local climate policies analysed in terms of co-construction, consultation and evaluation.