The UK has committed to reducing carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050. How will people respond to this challenge? What scope is there for people to live their lives differently, and how can government enable this shift? How can citizens work with government, to shape a climate strategy that works for them?

Climate Citizens, a new research initiative enabled by a UKRI-funded Fellowship, investigates citizen engagement in energy and climate governance (here’s the website). It will use deliberative methodologies, bringing citizens together with experts to develop new understandings of the role of the individual in governance, and to co-design policy and strategy.

We have a particular focus on embedding deliberative methods into the policy process. In September 2020, Climate Assembly UK, the Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change commissioned by Parliament, launched its findings. Recent months have also seen an upsurge of Assemblies and Juries at local level. How can the results of these processes be incorporated into policy and governance? Are there ways in which deliberation can become embedded into policymaking? And crucially, how can climate strategies and policies themselves be designed to encourage greater engagement?

The initiative is a partnership between Lancaster University, the Committee on Climate Change, the Energy System Catapult, the UK Energy Research Centre, and the Centre for Climate and Social Transformation (CAST). It is funded by UK Research and Innovation.

The project began in October 2020. Please do get in touch – we’d love to hear your views to help shape the work.