Local and regional climate assemblies

Panel Citoyen sur le climat

April 24th, 2021 – Wallonia, Belgium

In Wallonie, regional authorities have gathered a panel of 50 citizens. The panel will get together over a period of 6 months, during which they will come up with suggestions for the regional climate policy towards 2030.

Attendants: 50

Greve Kommune Klimaborgersamling

January 2022 – April 2022 – Greve Strand, Denmark

The City Council of Greve is behind this local citizens’ assembly, which has been tasked with identifying ways to strengthen synergies between local actors and systems, so that C02-emissions may be minimized.

Attendants: 36

La Convention citoyenne locale pour le climat d’Est Ensemble

September 2021 – January 2022 – Île-de-France, France

This assembly has been tasked with discussing five topics; Housing, Food and Consumption, Transport, Work and Production, and Commitment to Change. The assembly will meet across 5 weekends.

Attendants: 100

The Frankfurt Democracy Convention 2021: 'Frankfurt macht (Klima)Politik'

October 2021 – November 2021 – Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany

The Frankfurt Democracy Convention is an annual democratic citizens’ forum, which for its’ second edition will have 60 local citizens convene on ways for the city to tackle climate protection.

Attendants: 60

The Frankfurt Democracy Convention 2021: 'Frankfurt macht (Klima)Politik'

October 2021 – Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany

The Frankfurt Democracy Convention is an annual democratic citizens’ forum, which for its’ second edition will have 60 local citizens convene on ways for the city to tackle climate protection.

Attendants: 60

Bonn4Future – Klimaforum

September 2021 – June 2022 – Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

As part of larger, local climate initiative, Bonn4Future, a series of climate forums has been set in motion. Here, local climate challenges and measures will be identified, informing a local climate action plan.

Attendants: 100

Bonn4Future – Wir fürs Klima

September 10th, 2021 – Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

As part of larger, local climate initiative, Bonn4Future, a series of climate forums has been set in motion. Here, local climate challenges and measures will be identified, informing a local climate action plan.

Attendants: 100

Klímavészhelyzet van – mit tegyen Budapest?

September 2020 – Budapest, Hungary

In September of 2020 the city of Budapest and 50 of its’ residents held a local assembly, deliberating on the goals the city should set for itself when dealing with climate change, as well as how to achieve them.

Attendants: 50

Krakowski panel klimatyczny

April 2021 – June 2021 – Kraków, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland

The Krakow Climate Panel focused on the city’s climate neutrality through its’ central question: How can the City of Krakow and its residents reduce energy consumption and increase the use of renewable energy?

Attendants: 60

Poznański Panelu Obywatelskiego

February 2021 – May 2021 – Poznań, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland

In the city of Poznan, 70 citizens were gathered to discuss both how should the city should adapt its’ green areas to the changing climate, and if the city should abandon coal burning in households.

Attendants: 70

Adur & Worthing Climate Assembly

September 2020 – December 2020 – England, United Kingdom

Across 5 sessions, the Council of Adur & Worthing assembled citizens and had them address issues of how the region could collectively tackle climate change, as well as what it would mean for the local way of life.

Attendants: 43

Blackpool Climate Assembly

January 2021 – February 2021 – Blackpool, England, United Kingdom

As a response to the declared climate emergency, the city of Blackpool had its’ own climate assembly in early 2021, spanning 4 sessions. At the same time, a parallel youth climate assembly was also ran.

Attendants: 40

Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly

March 2nd – 28th 2021 – Wales, United Kingdom

Four housing associations organized this assembly with the help from local authorities, exploring how the climate should be tackled locally through discussions on sub-themes such as housing, nature and transport.

Attendants: 47

Brent Climate Assembly

November 19th 2019 – December 7th 2019 – England, United Kingdom

The London Borough of Brent convened a climate assembly over two months in 2019. The results of their deliberations were brought to local politicians and informed a new local plan for tackling climate change.

Attendants: 53

The Brighton and Hove Climate Assembly

July 2th 2020 – November 26th 2020 – England, United Kingdom

Across 5 sessions, the Brighton & Hove climate assembly looked at transport, one of the city’s biggest sources of carbon emissions – and in particular in how emissions could potentially be reduced.

Attendants: 50

Camden Council’s Citizens’ Assembly on the Climate Crisis

July 1st 2019 – July 20th 2019 – England, United Kingdom

The London Borough of Camden convened a climate assembly in the summer of 2019. The results of their deliberations were brought to local politicians and informed a new local plan for tackling climate change.

Attendants: 50

Croydon Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change

January 22th 2020 – February 20th 2020 – Croydon, England, United Kingdom

The London Borough of Croydon convened a climate assembly, in which discussion revolved around the roles that individuals, communities and the Council could play to tackle the climate crisis, together.

Attendants: 72

The Devon Climate Assembly

May 22nd-23rd 2019 – England, United Kingdom

Following an interim ‘Carbon Plan’, which outlined necessary steps if Devon is to reach climate neutrality by 2050, a local partnership in Devon gathered an assembly to deliberate on issues that still needed resolving.

Attendants: 70

Lambeth's Citizens' Assembly on Climate Change

May 2021 – July 2021 – England, United Kingdom

Following an open call for residents to identify organizations and initiatives already tackling climate change, an assembly was formed with the intent of coming up with local solutions and recommendations.

Attendants: 50

Jersey Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change

March 2021 – May 2021 – Jersey

Across 16 sessions divided into 4 blocks, the assembly was introduced to the climate issues facing Jersey, after which they deliberated the islands’ own contributions and devised recommendations for policy change.

Attendants: 45

Newham Citizens' Assembly on Climate Change

February 6th 2020 – February 23th 2020 – England, United Kingdom

To bring together the council of Newham and its’ citizens on the issue of climate change, an assembly was tasked to deliberate how residents and the council could work together to be carbon neutral in 2050.

Attendants: 36

North of Tyne Citizens' Assembly on Climate Change

February 24th 2021 – March 24th 2021 – Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom

In early 2021, an online climate assembly was held in North of Tyne. Here, 50 citizens spent 30 hours over the span of a month gaining insights and deliberating on aspects of climate change and the local response.

Attendants: 50

Oxford Citizens Assembly on Climate Change

September 2019 – October 2019 – Oxford, England, United Kingdom

With this assembly, Oxford became the first UK city to hold a citizens assembly on climate change to help address the issue of climate change, and consider the measures that should be taken in Oxford.

Attendants: 42

Convention citoyenne pour l'Occitanie

September 2020 – October 2021 – Toulouse, Occitanie, France

The assembly met for two three-day sessions, and a concluding day. It drafted proposals related to local environmental action, social justice measures and new democratic practices. The region’s inhabitants were then invited to vote on some of these proposals to select their priorities for the regional Green New Deal.

Attendants: 100

Rouen citoyenne

January 2022-March – Glisolles, Normandie, France

For three weekends, the citizens’ assembly prepared recommendations for the city council to adapt the city to the climatic, health and industrial risks it will face in the decades to come. The mayor has undertaken to create a permanent assembly to monitor their implementation.

Attendants: 30

Convention citoyenne métropolitaine pour le climat de Grenoble

March 2022 – October 2022 – Grenoble, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

The Convention will meet at least once a month to issue recommendations on how to reduce GHG emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Those that fall within the scope of competence of the Metropolis will be submitted to the vote of the metropolitan council and could lead to a citizen vote in 2023.

Attendants: 150

Vorarlberg Klima-Zukunft

July 6th 2021 – Vorarlberg, Austria

Inspired by the Vorarlberg approach

Attendants: 21

Umgang mit Grund und Boden

22nd-23rd of September 2017 – Vorarlberg, Austria

This mini-public was the first of its kind in Vorarlberg. It was bottom-up initiated by a group/network of people focusing on soil and land. They collected almost 1400 signatures (1000 needed), handed it to the regional government, which then had to commission a mini-public (Bürgerrat) on this topic. The organization was handed to the the “Büro für Zukunftsfragen” and the department “Raumplanung und Baurecht” – in consultation with the initiating group. Thus, professional facilitation for the 27 randomly selected citizens (representative criteria based) was guaranteed (dynamic facilitation as key method). Two key questions were at the center of this mini-public: How can a diligent and forward-looking handling of land and soil look like? How can future generations find a healthy and sustainable living space as well, which satisfies todays’ needs? A set of recommendations was created (consultative process), focusing on what citizens think is needed for the future planning on soil and land. Although many suggestions were formulated in the end, they can summarized in three clusters: (1) affordable housing, (2) keep natural space and (3) agriculture. Eventually, these recommendations were presented at a Bürgercafé (Citizens Café) in front of politicians and citizens and afterwards discussed for further implementation within a “stakeholder meeting” (Resonanzgruppe), including politicians, citizens, initiators of the mini-public, participants of the mini-public, stakeholders and civil servants.

Attendants: 27

Ida-Viru Climate Assembly

November- December 2021 – Ida-Viru County, Estonia

The first Estonian climate assembly brought together young people aged 16-29 to discuss the climate friendly future scenarios of Ida-Virumaa, an industrial region of Estonia known for its shale oil production.

Attendants: 40

Tartu's Climate Assembly on Urban Planning and Sustainable Mobility

April-May 2022 – Tartu, Tartu County, Estonia

The Tartu Climate Assembly will take place to invite citizens to discuss the question “How can we make urban spaces of Tartu safer and more attractive?”. The results will be an input for local the government’s development plans in the next 3 years.

Attendants: 55

Berlin Energy efficient urbanism

June 13-14th 2012 – Berlin, Berlin, Germany

The Adlershof planning cell took place on 13 and 14 June 2012 at the Schrödinger Center of Berlin’s Humboldt University in Adlershof as part of the joint project “High Tech – Low Ex: Energy Efficiency Berlin Adlershof 2020”, the aim of which is to develop possibilities for the local application of forms of cooperation to identify increases in efficiency in the use of energy and – as a second step – initiate pilot implementation projects.

Attendants: 21

Greater Cambridge Citizens' Assembly

September 7th 2019 – October 6th 2019 – Cambridge, England, United Kingdom

How do we reduce congestion, improve air quality, and provide better public transport in Greater Cambridge? To help answer this question, a group of people came together for four days at the Greater Cambridge Citizens’ Assembly to help solve this key issue for the area.

Attendants: 53

Smart energy and transport changes in Berlin's city districts

2014 – Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Over the course of three days, randomly selected Berliners learned about various aspects of the energy and transport transition and formulated recommendations that help develop practical, citizen-oriented concepts for connecting renewable energy and electromobile transport in the city’s districts

Attendants: 88

Lubin City Citizens' Panel

April 7th 2018 -May 19th 2018 – Lubin, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland

60 randomly selected people together with experts were looking for an answer to the question “What to do to breathe clean air?” Lublin, in collaboration with Gdańsk, is testing new methods of conducting discussions on issues important to the city and its inhabitants.

Attendants: 60

Planning Cells on Climate

1996 – Baden-Württemberg, Germany

The citizens’ forums “Climate-friendly energy supply in Baden-Württemberg” were conceived as a four-day block event on the model of Peter Dienel’s planning cell. In March and April 1996, eleven forums took place in six cities. They are the beginning of the social discourse of the project “Climate-compatible energy supply in Baden-Württemberg” and are intended to enable citizens to form an opinion based on the social effects of various CO2 reduction measures Assess the Academy’s scenarios and finally design and justify an energy scenario.

Attendants: 220

Copeland People's Panel on Climate Change

July 14th 2021 – November 2021 – England, United Kingdom

With the support of Zero Carbon Cumbria Programme and Shared Future, Copeland Borough Council commissioned the Copeland People’s Panel on Climate Change — a citizens’ jury that will guide the council and partner organisations on where their priorities should lie as they work towards their ambition of becoming a net-zero carbon district.
A citizens’ jury consists of members of the public that come together to deliberate and make recommendations on a particular issue, in this case climate change.
Panel members, selected to reflect the diversity of the population, listened to and questioned a range of expert commentators. Then they shared their ideas, deliberated on the issues, before creating a set of recommendations to be taken to Copeland Borough Council to consider.

Attendants: 30

(E-)Skånepanelen 

2014-2020 – Skåne, Varmland County, Sweden

info about Skånepanelen:
Skånepanelen is a citizen panel and an online survey where citizens in the region are consulted every year on issues related to health care, regional development and climate issues. The purpose is to gain greater insight into citizens’ knowledge, expectations and attitudes on public services provided by the region. The panel was organized by the region of Skåne and was first used in 2013 and in 2018 it consisted of 3000 participants (the number varies year to year, between 3000 and 5000 participants). Participants (referred to as “Members of the citizen panel”) is selected randomly but must be residents in Skåne and at least 16 years old. Skånepanelen is claimed to be the largest citizen panel in Sweden. Response rate vary between 73-87 per cent. The survey is often combined with focus groups and face-to-face meetings with citizens and, thus, part of a broader strategic initiative “Open Skåne 2030”, to include citizens in the policy making process

A European Town Meeting on climate change

November 15, 2008 – Tuscany, Italy

This mini-public was supported by Tuscany Region, Cornellà de Llobregat and Poitiers. The town meeting was held in five Tuscany cities and two other cities, one located in Spain (Cornellà de Lobregat) and one in France (Poitiers). 600 young citizens from the 8 cities were selected. The event also includes two virtual roundtables composed by young citizens from around Europe. The main issue at stake was the climate change the actions to prevent it. Session 1: Which energies for tomorrow’s Europe? Session 2 How to reduce our energetic consumption? Session 3: Waste. Session 4: Mobility. Session 5: which strategies to promote Eolic energy?

Attendants: 600

Landscape Town Meeting

2010 – Tuscany, Italy

After having adopted a landscape plan, including territorial safeguards, the Region of Tuscany intended to have a public debate with citizens and professional, scientific, and field experts before final approval of the plan, on the basis of their participatory laws (L.R.69/2007). The Town Meeting took place on February 6th, 2010. It was a milestone along a road which concluded on February 19th, 2010 with the “General States of Landscape” in which the results of this experience were discussed. The work of the Town Meeting day was elaborated on in a report. The February 6th 2010 Town Meeting took place in five places simultaneously which constituted important locations, from the point of view of the Tuscan landscape: Castelnuovo Berardenga; Cortona; Orbetello; Piombino; Prato. They debates centered around two principal themes: (1) which are the most important characteristics of a landscape? that is, which should be protected or, when they disappear or are damaged, should be reconstructed? (2) what needs to happen to preserve (or rebuild) the Tuscan landscape’s quality?

Attendants: 150

Jury citoyen sur le devenir des zones rurales

19th May-25th June 2006 – Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

The region Rhône-Alpes convened a mini-public of 38 participants to discuss the future of rural areas, and so in the framework of an European consultation on rural world. The meetings took place over three weekends (May-June 2006). The minipublic took place at the same time as other minipublics in several European countries. Some of the participants participated in an additional European minipublic in Brussels in 2007.

Attendants: 38

Atelier citoyen surle climat

15th of April- July 2011 – Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

In 2011, the region Rhône-Alpes convened 35 randomly drawn residents to discuss issues related to regional policies to fight against global warming. Participants gathered during 3 weekends from April until July. They were expected to provide answers to the following question: what policy instruments should the region use in order to achieve a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions on the short run (2020) and long run (2050)? Upon their final meeting, participants wrote a report with policy recommendations.

Attendants: 35

Atelier Air Energie Climat Rhône-Alpes

2011 – Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

Attendants: 35

Climate Change citizens’ summit

March 2007 – London, England, United Kingdom

Six regional workshops held during in late March and early April 2007. The workshops were designed to reach 28 -29 people each from a range of urban and rural locations: a maximum total of 174 participants. Participants were recruited to provide a demographically representative sample of the region in terms of age, gender, black and minority ethnic and socio-economic status, and a range of consumer typologies based on attitudes and behaviour on climate change. The workshops were held in Bristol, Birmingham, London, Newcastle, Nottingham and Manchester. Each workshop ran for three hours in the evening (6.30pm to 9.30pm). A reconvened event (the Citizens’ Summit) to which all participants in the regional workshops were invited; 152 public participants attended.It built on the process and outputs from the regional workshops, and the same participants were invited.The public engagement programme was designed, as part of the draft Climate Change Bill consultation process, to: (1) help government design policy to maximise positive individual behaviour on climate change (2) drive awareness, information and debate on climate change.

Attendants: 152

Conférence citoyenne sur les déchets ménagers

25th of March-21st of May 2008 – France

This mini-public on the management of household waste was convened by the region Île de France in 2008. Participants met three times on weekends (two training sessions and one final session during which they auditioned external speakers and wrote a final report).

Attendants: 25

Panel citoyen de la COP

2019 – France

Attendants: 27

Climacteurs – 100 voix pour le Climat

2015 – Brussels, Brussels, Belgium

Attendants: 100

The Region of Zealand citizens' summit on climate

2010 – Denmark

Attendants: 200

Évaluation participative de projets liés à la transition énergétique – Nantes Métropole

2017 – Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France

Attendants: 50

The first Gdansk Citizens' Panel

November 19th 2016 – December 3th 2016 – Gdańsk, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland

“The panel has been divided into three thematic blocks. Each of them constituted a separate session.
(1) What can be done to improve stormwater retention in the Tricity Landscape Park?
(2) What should be the extent of assistance to the residents of Gdańsk after a heavy rain?
(3) When building new retention basins, should they be partially filled with water?”

Attendants: 63

The second Gdansk Citizens' Panel

March 25th 2017 – April 9th 2017 – Gdańsk, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland

Gdańsk is holding a citizens’ assembly for the second time. The theme this time is to improve air quality. Compared to other Polish cities, the air quality in Gdańsk is good, but it can also be improved in Poland, especially in terms of the possibility to reduce pollution from home heating stoves and local coal-fired boilers. A citizens’ panel has been set up to reflect on what solutions to implement.

Attendants: 56

Citizens' summit on regional development

2007 – Capital Region of Denmark, Denmark

Attendants: 167

Plan régional de prévention et de gestion des déchets » Région Centre-Val-de-Loire

2017 – Saint-Laurent-Nouan, Centre-Val de Loire, France

Attendants: 34

Leeds Climate Change Citizens’ Jury

September 12th 2019 – November 3rd 2019 – Leeds, England, United Kingdom

The Leeds Climate Change Citizens Jury was commissioned by the Leeds Climate Commission. We at Shared Future were privileged enough to be invited to organise and facilitate the process. Project design was overseen by a project oversight panel made up of a hugely diverse group of key local organisations from the City Council to Extinction Rebellion and youth climate strikers to the Chamber of Commerce. They met parallel to the Citizens’ Jury to agree how best to recruit the participants and who the commentators or expert witnesses should be that present to the jury.

Attendants: 25

Lancaster District People’s Jury on Climate Change

February 3rd 2020 – October 2020 – Lancaster, England, United Kingdom

The citizens chosen to participate in the panel have reflected the make-up of the district in relation to gender, age, ethnicity, disability, geography, attitude to climate change and deprivation.

Attendants: 30

Kendal Citizens Jury on Climate Change

July 2nd 2020 – October 2020 – Kendal, England, United Kingdom

The group met for some twenty-six hours of deliberation over the course of ten sessions to answer the question ‘What should Kendal do about Climate Change?’
The jury worked hard to listen to each other and to share experiences and opinions. Challenging each other and learning from each other.

Attendants: 20

Warwick District People’s Climate Change Inquiry

November 12th 2020 – February 2021 – Warwick, England, United Kingdom

Between November 2020 and February 2021 the panel of 30 residents met regularly to discuss the question: ‘What do we need to do in the Warwick District to help address climate change by 2030?’. The findings and recommendations of the panel have now be published with the intention they will be used by the Council and other organisations, as part of an Action Plan to achieve the District’s target of becoming as close to zero emissions as possible by 2030.

Attendants: 30

Furness Climate Change Citizens’ Jury

16 November, 2021 – 8 February, 2022 – Barrow-in-Furness, England, United Kingdom

Making sure the public have a say in what happens to tackle climate change is part of our Climate Change Policy, and a citizens’ jury is one way we can engage with our residents on this issue. With the support of the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership and National Lottery funding, we were able to launch our Furness Climate Change Citizens’ Jury who have convened to consider the question: What should happen in the Furness area to address the emergency of climate change?

Attendants: 20

The Southwark Climate Change Citizens’ Jury

November 25th 2021 – January 22nd 2022 – England, United Kingdom

The jury saw 25 local citizens consider the question, ‘What needs to change in Southwark to tackle the emergency of climate change fairly and effectively for people and nature?’

Attendants: 25

Finland’s Citizens’ jury on climate actions

22-25 April, 2021 – Finland

Consultations and surveys commissioned by Ministry isolated the most controversial climate policy issues that directly affect consumers. Jury asked to consider 14 related policy proposals and produce a statement commenting on each action. The jurors were introduced to the each topic and formulated questions for the experts. The jurors then deliberated in 5 small groups, engaging in an iterative process of drafting text for a declaration on the fairness and impact of each climate action, which was then passed on to next group to review and redraft. Experts commented on draft statements as part of review process. The whole Jury discussed and voted on controversial parts of the statement where consensus was not achieved. Finally, the jury voted to adopt the statement. Structure of the Jury influenced by the Citizens’ Initiative Review format.

Attendants: 33