Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CLIMAS (CLIMAte change citizens engagement toolbox for dealing with Societal resilience)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-01-01 al 2024-06-30
Climate change is a critical issue today. The last climate change events, such as flooding in Germany and Belgium in both Continental and Atlantic regions, heat waves and lack of water in both Mediterranean and Boreal regions, show that the policymakers, experts and stakeholders' actions are not enough, and a 360º citizens engagement is urgently needed. Therefore, we need to learn from the good experience in citizens' engagement in climate change action and build up citizen-supporting infrastructure for climate adaptation measures to help the 150 European regions and local communities to resist. Climate assemblies and Living labs are considered as sustainable and reasonable tools to stimulate deliberative democracy in climate policymaking.
In this regard, CLIMAS project targets a transformative approach to climate policy-making by embedding a values-based, bottom-up methodology within Climate Assemblies and Living Labs in European Union, aiming to ensure that all community voices, primarily those typically underrepresented, are heard and integrated into the decision-making process. The cornerstone of CLIMAS is the development of an innovative Toolbox that supports the creation of climate adaptation strategies, facilitates scenario development, and enhances decision-making processes by incorporating citizen insights and expert knowledge through a citizen science framework and design thinking methods. This Toolbox is designed to preemptively address potential tensions and dilemmas in climate adaptation, enabling robust engagement strategies that result in a society "resilient by design." It leverages the best practices from previous assemblies, enhancing them with new tools that ensure transparency and inclusivity in deliberations. By democratising the process and shifting from expert-dominated discussions to multi-stakeholder deliberations, CLIMAS aims to make Climate Assemblies a regular feature of policy development rather than extraordinary events. Moreover, the project will continuously evaluate and refine the Toolbox using data and feedback from Climate Assemblies, ensuring that it remains adequate and relevant.
Through these efforts, CLIMAS will contribute to building climate resilience across Europe and enhance the legitimacy and acceptance of climate policies, thereby significantly impacting both local and regional scales. This transformative project sets a precedent for tackling climate change through inclusive and empowered community action, aligning with broader European goals for sustainability and resilience
In this regard, CLIMAS project targets a transformative approach to climate policy-making by embedding a values-based, bottom-up methodology within Climate Assemblies and Living Labs in European Union, aiming to ensure that all community voices, primarily those typically underrepresented, are heard and integrated into the decision-making process. The cornerstone of CLIMAS is the development of an innovative Toolbox that supports the creation of climate adaptation strategies, facilitates scenario development, and enhances decision-making processes by incorporating citizen insights and expert knowledge through a citizen science framework and design thinking methods. This Toolbox is designed to preemptively address potential tensions and dilemmas in climate adaptation, enabling robust engagement strategies that result in a society "resilient by design." It leverages the best practices from previous assemblies, enhancing them with new tools that ensure transparency and inclusivity in deliberations. By democratising the process and shifting from expert-dominated discussions to multi-stakeholder deliberations, CLIMAS aims to make Climate Assemblies a regular feature of policy development rather than extraordinary events. Moreover, the project will continuously evaluate and refine the Toolbox using data and feedback from Climate Assemblies, ensuring that it remains adequate and relevant.
Through these efforts, CLIMAS will contribute to building climate resilience across Europe and enhance the legitimacy and acceptance of climate policies, thereby significantly impacting both local and regional scales. This transformative project sets a precedent for tackling climate change through inclusive and empowered community action, aligning with broader European goals for sustainability and resilience
In the first 18 months of the CLIMAS project implementation, we have focused on several key technical and scientific advancements crucial for enhancing climate resilience across Europe. A significant part of our efforts included the preparations for the development of the CLIMAS Toolbox, including analysing the drivers and barriers for citizen participation in climate adaptation, identification of best practice examples in deliberative practices and understanding the readiness of diverse set of European regions in implementing Climate Assemblies on a broader scale. Such preparation allowed the preparation and kick-off for co-creation and initial testing of the Toolbox, which is designed to integrate various climate adaptation tools across different stages of problem-solving—from empathising with community needs to defining problems and prototyping solutions. During RP1, we initiated pilot activities in the Climate Assembly of Catalunya to co-create and test the toolbox's effectiveness in supporting citizen-led deliberation, with the primary aim of enhancing citizens' ability to make well-informed decisions about climate actions. This iterative process involved extensive methodological work, including creating a monitoring and evaluation methodology to ensure that the toolbox and associated activities effectively engage citizens and align with broader policy objectives. These activities are expected to improve significantly the framework and functionality of the Climate Assemblies, thereby increasing citizen involvement and fostering more sustainable climate governance practices.
At M18, the CLIMAS project co-created and tested the initial versions of the tools in the CLIMAS Toolbox and submitted 16 project deliverables on time. During RP1, 2 open-access publications and 1 scientific publication in peer-reviewed journals were published (3 more are submitted to scientific journals and are awaiting decisions by journal editors). In this regard, the project advanced in several interdisciplinary scientific fields crucial for addressing climate resilience and enhancing citizen participation in climate action.
These advancements include research in climate communication exploring the influence of past climate events and economic factors on adaptation behaviour in diverse contexts, emphasising the need for targeted educational interventions tailored to specific socio-cultural contexts. This includes advancing knowledge on the behaviour of online communities and addressing challenges like misinformation and passive participation to enhance the efficacy of online discussions on climate change. Furthermore, the project has innovatively bridged the gap between citizen science and climate deliberation. Through the development of a Citizen Science Toolkit, the project has enabled the integration of citizen-generated insights into climate policy-making processes. This toolkit facilitates the systematic collection of climate-relevant data and enhances the inclusivity and accessibility of participatory processes in Climate Assemblies. As a result, it empowers citizens to engage actively in climate action, ensuring that their contributions are substantively reflected in policy-making processes, thereby enriching the scientific basis for climate resilience strategies.
These advancements include research in climate communication exploring the influence of past climate events and economic factors on adaptation behaviour in diverse contexts, emphasising the need for targeted educational interventions tailored to specific socio-cultural contexts. This includes advancing knowledge on the behaviour of online communities and addressing challenges like misinformation and passive participation to enhance the efficacy of online discussions on climate change. Furthermore, the project has innovatively bridged the gap between citizen science and climate deliberation. Through the development of a Citizen Science Toolkit, the project has enabled the integration of citizen-generated insights into climate policy-making processes. This toolkit facilitates the systematic collection of climate-relevant data and enhances the inclusivity and accessibility of participatory processes in Climate Assemblies. As a result, it empowers citizens to engage actively in climate action, ensuring that their contributions are substantively reflected in policy-making processes, thereby enriching the scientific basis for climate resilience strategies.