In the I-CHANGE project one of our main purposes is incorporated in the project title acronym I-CHANGE standing for “Individual Change of HAbits Needed for Green European transition”. In a few more words that means that we are engaging citizens in science concerning local climate change challenges in order for them to see what is at stake and invite them to engage in developing possible ways to meet these challenges by changing their behaviour.
In I-CHANGE we engage citizens and other stakeholders through Living Labs. Each Living Lab is managed locally and provides a foundation for local co-creation and exploration through climate science focused activities with citizens and other stakeholders. All these activities and scientific findings will throughout the project be distilled into policy briefs both locally and on European level.
In the Danish Board of Technology, we are working with involvement of citizens and stakeholders in all policy aspects and through many methods. When we involve a diverse group of citizens and stakeholders in a structured and facilitated process, the actors become wiser about their own and each other’s opinions and in possible actions to take. This increases the possibility of finding new, common, and long-term solutions to political issues.
Where we in I-CHANGE use Living Labs to develop knowledge and engagement to be transformed into policy briefs, another project we are deeply engaged in, KNOCA (Knowledge Network On Climate Assemblies), focus on citizens assemblies. In KNOCA we convene a network with the purpose of sharing knowledge and experience with practitioners and policy makers. The potential of climate assemblies is to bring the assessments of everyday people into political decision-making in ways that make climate policy more ambitious, effective, and legitimate in achieving mitigation and adaptation. These are some of the reasons to use the method:
- To bring the informed views of the public into climate policymaking
- To break political deadlock on climate action
- To understand how everyday citizens prioritise climate actions.
- To increase the legitimacy of social action on climate change
The climate assembly as a method have gone through a wave of utilisation the past years and we discuss method details through workshops and learning calls. Through the experience of the network new knowledge and reflections occur and regardless of the method is very interesting to follow these discussions if you are interested in engaging citizens in climate policy.
Read KNOCAS latest insights in the report about the emerging trends, challenges and opportunities here: New KNOCA report – Climate assemblies: emerging trends, challenges and opportunities – KNOCA
By Stine Skot, Danish Board of Technology