The Swedish Citizens’ Assembly on Climate was constructed as part of the research programme Fairtrans, which is a collaboration between Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University, University of Gävle, Uppsala University, Lund University, and IVL, the Swedish Environmental Research Institute.
Remit
The Assembly was tasked with taking part in research, discuss solutions and come up with proposals on how Sweden can reduce greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement. The Assembly was constructed specifically as tool to get around the polarised climate debate in Sweden which has taken on a partisan character in recent years.
Commitment to respond
No formal commitment to respond to the outcomes of the Assembly has been stated. The partners in the Fairtrans project indicate that they strive to influence the political level based on the outcomes.
Governance
The Assembly was run under the oversight of an Advisory Board consisting of a wide variety of political and public figures who are in some way connected to Sweden’s work with accomplishing the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Delivery bodies
Digidem Lab was responsible for design and implementation of the Assembly, with support from DEMOCRACY X. Enkätfabriken was responsible for recruitment.
Participant recruitment
Recruitment was carried out by Enkätfabriken. Recruitment for this assembly was conducted by sending 7.000 introductory invitations to residents across Sweden, chosen via a democratic lottery. An algorithm was used choose a total of 60 members from a pool of 473 interested citizens. Participants were awarded a total salary of 8.000 SEK (~ €700) for attending all meetings.
Duration
The members of the Swedish Citizens’ Assembly on Climate met a total of nine times between March and May 2024.
Structure
The Assembly combined both in-person and online meetings. The members met physically on the first and final weekend (9-10 March and 18-19 May). In between, the citizens' council met online for five Thursday evenings (21 March, 11 April, 18 April, 25 April, and 2 May).
Facilitation
The design of the Assembly was geared to ensure that different people’s experiences and voices were given equal weight, and that differences in power and privilege were, as far as possible, considered and rebalanced. The assembly combined a mix of plenary sessions with experts and breakouts for deliberations. Digidem Lab facilitated the Assembly.
Evidence base
Expert witnesses from a variety of fields and sectors presented to the members of the Assembly and to the Advisory Board. The members of the Assembly also had the opportunity to request additional expert testimony and utilised this right to request to as for more knowledge about the impact of battery production on people and the environment, why it is difficult to break old habits, and politicians' perspectives on climate policy. The experts were also asked to write a summary text that was then compiled into a knowledge booklet that was distributed to the council members.
Developing recommendations
The members of the Assembly jointly came up with a total of 22 recommendations for how Sweden can tackle achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement as well as Sweden’s carbon budget. The recommendations include making the climate a school subject, investing in high-speed trains and making public transport in general more reliable, equal and cheaper.
Final report
A final report is not yet available. In the interim, the Fairtrans consortium has published a report on the recommendations from the Assembly.
Official response
No official response has been released.
Impact
The Swedish Citizens’ Assembly on Climate is the first of its kind and was run as part of a research programme rather than on the wishes of the Swedish government. Therefore, it is not yet known how or whether the political level will act on the recommendations.
Evaluation
No formal internal nor external evaluation of the entirety of the Assembly has yet been published.
Budget
The FAIRTRANS project has received a funding from Mistra and FORMAS, with additional funding from the European Climate Foundation, totalling €352.000. The budget for the Assembly itself has not yet been made public, although it is expected that most of the allotted funding went to the Assembly as it was the FAIRTRANS project's main activity.
