Climate citizens is a research project based at Lancaster University. The project is focused on improving two-way dialogue between citizens and decision makers over the future of UK climate policy.
Citizens are too often seen simply as ‘consumers’ who need better information to make the ‘right’ choices on climate change. We don’t think things are this simple. Reaching carbon neutrality will require significant changes to how people live their lives. We believe people should have a say in what these changes look like and hold valuable insights that can contribute to better designed policy.
Meeting the UK’s climate commitments in a way that works for everyone in the country requires a much better form of dialogue between citizens and the state. This is why we believe there is a need for better quality deliberation, not just one way engagement, in the policy process.
Deliberation is a form of engagement that allows people to learn about the problems at hand and contribute towards the design of solutions. This can take the form of one-off deliberative processes like Climate Assembly UK or can be an ongoing process of learning and dialogue.
Climate Citizens aims to design and test ways to embed meaningful deliberation in the way climate and energy policy is designed. We are working closely with our policy partners to develop and trial approaches that can work in the real world.
In this section you can read more about why we believe change is needed and what the project aims to achieve.
Photo credit: Shared Futures