Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Issues

Climate

In the December 2019 Agreement on the Climate Act, it was decided that Denmark should establish its first national Citizens’ Assembly on climate issues where the Danish public could make their voices heard in the planning of national climate policies.

The Citizens’ Assembly consists of 99 individuals selected by Statistics Denmark based on few simple criteria such as their age, geographic location, level of education and income. They were tasked with debating citizen-level dilemmas associated with the green transition as well as providing input and recommendations to the drafting of the climate action plans.

119 recommendations on the green transition

Their work took place over a number of weekend and evening gatherings in 2020 and 2021, where relevant subject matter experts educated them on topics such as funding and taxes, agricultural land and resources, transport, technical facilities in/as part of the landscape and lifestyle and behaviour. Through a series of dialogues and debates, the members of the Citizens’ Assembly subsequently prepared a list of recommendations to the Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities as well as the Danish Parliament’s Climate, Energy and Utilities Committee.

You can read The Citizens’ Assembly’s report and the 119 recommendations here.

The second phase of the Citizens’ Assembly

During the fall 2021 the Citizen’s Assembly will get together at two physical weekend gatherings and a number of virtual evening meetings. The second phase of the citizen’s Assembly will consist of old and new members.