Climate change is one of the most critical issues to tackle today as it is foreseen to have detrimental social, environmental, and economic impacts in the near future. The CLIMAS project is working towards demonstrating that actions taken by policymakers, experts, and stakeholders are not enough to tackle climate issues, and a 360º citizen engagement approach is urgently needed. To this end, we are looking at creating tools and offering support to European cities and regions in organising citizens’ engagement actions – specifically Climate Assemblies.
During the first year of the project, European Integrated Projects (EIP) looked at the conditions, barriers and opportunities in developing Climate Assemblies with the goal of understanding the EU regions and local communities’ capacity to engage citizens in deciding climate change actions. The analysis was based on a three-step methodological approach, comprising desk research, an EU-wide survey, and a series of interviews with representatives of public authorities in Europe. More than 400 persons from local and regional authorities across countries across Europe (not only European Union) have been contacted to reply to the questionnaire. Based on this, 65 public authorities replied to the survey, offering a very good base of analysis. Moreover, 11 public authorities’ representatives have been interviewed to better understand their engagement practices towards climate change actions.
[MAP: Countries, regions and cities targeted through the survey]
The results of the research show that engaging citizens requires a broad and inclusive strategy. Public authorities, being the most essential actors in tackling climate change and involving citizens in policymaking process, play a critical role in facilitating Climate Assemblies. Based on interviews conducted for this report with cities that have already held Climate Assemblies and research into specialised literature, we can summarise several key steps and actions that authorities can take to engage with citizens and successfully organise Climate Assemblies. The success of this engagement lies on the authorities’ capacity to plan and execute the process, equipped with the necessary resources, expertise, regulatory guidance, and a conducive organizational culture. This results in a process that not only builds public confidence and interest, but also improves the impact and acceptability of climate policy.
We conclude that the interest in engaging stakeholders and citizens is very high in Europe. Every stage of the research concluded with the same message: “public authorities acknowledge the fact that stakeholders and citizens need to be involved in designing and implementing solutions that will address the climate goals”. The public authorities’ role as facilitators of the dialogue between all stakeholders, including citizens and decision/policymakers is crucial, and this report sheds light on the main aspects to be addressed or developed when engaging with stakeholders and citizens. CLIMAS project will build on this understanding in the development of future tools and wider recommendations.
Author: Iolanda Moldoveanu, EIP
The CLIMAS Project has received funding from European Union’s Horizon Europe under Grant Agreement N° 101094021. Follow CLIMAS on LinkedIn, Instagram and X, or subscribe to the newsletter to stay updated with the latest activities!
