Egedal Citizen Assembly – climate adaptation with citizens

When municipalities adapt to climate change, they face a number of difficult choices that are not just technical. Experience from across the country shows that if decisions are made over the heads of citizens, projects risk meeting resistance and being slowed down. The conversation shifts from what’s good for the common good – to “not in my backyard”.

In Egedal Municipality, previous protests about local climate adaptation led to a turnaround in the climate adaptation approach. In a unique collaboration between the utility company Novafos and the municipality of Egedal, they chose to move from local user management to broad citizen involvement and invited a representative sample of the whole of Egedal to participate in a joint consultation on the balances and priorities of future climate adaptation.

With “Egedal Citizens’ Assembly – together for the future of water”, Egedal Municipality and Novafos decided to invite citizens into the decision-making process.

The framework of a citizen assembly that meets the OECD principles of deliberative processes and good public participation was crucial to the process of rebuilding trust between system and citizens

• An independent expert group was established with leading subject matter experts to support the citizens’ work and ensure informed deliberation and expert involvement throughout the process. The expert group appointed a number of experts during the process to contribute to the citizens’ work, including Sebastian H. Merlind, who can be seen in video here.
• A mandate, core task, steering committee and independent third-party secretariat were established with We Do Democracy at the helm
• Ramboll was commissioned to develop professional scenarios for future climate adaptation in Egedal – and it was up to the members of the citizens’ assembly to assess and provide input
• All citizens in Egedal municipality were invited to participate via e-Boks from the mayor. The draw criteria gender, age, education, geographical spread and place of residence were set up and 36 citizens were selected by stratified draw.

In the fall of 2025, the 36 representative citizens from all over Egedal submitted their final recommendations to the municipality and the utility company Novafos on how best to balance climate adaptation between technical, environmental and social considerations. Six months of intense work with the task, the associated expert group, ambitious scenarios from Rambøll and Novafors – led to significant recommendations and results:

• Across the diversity of citizens and the previous great disagreement in Egedal, 96% support has been achieved among the members for the 16 final recommendations and prioritization criteria for climate adaptation
• Citizens can, on an informed basis, relate to very complex knowledge and differentiate their recommendations to the municipality and Novafos respectively
• Climate adaptation cannot be reduced to a binary choice between either a blue/green solution on the surface or traditional buried solutions. A balance between context and social conditions points the way forward. At the same time, more biodiversity and nature are central to future climate adaptation.

See the final recommendation report: Egedal Borgersamling_anbefalinger_endeligt færdige

Novafos and Egedal have joined forces with their citizens in a unique collaboration to solve local challenges when the water rises. They have also shown the way to rethink our local democratic processes and build bridges between the system and citizens. The best solutions – always solving more than a single problem and showing the way for everyone else.

• A unanimous city council has moved forward with the recommendations of the citizens’ assembly and will in the coming years put the recommendations of the citizens’ assembly in front of the further process for climate adaptation.
• Initial feedback has been given to members and the public on how the municipality will translate recommendations into further implementation
• Novafos is committed to taking the members’ recommendations as a starting point in their further work as a utility company in the municipality
• Egedal Municipality has subsequently received an EU grant of DKK 1.5 million to honor the citizen involvement efforts and secure funds to support climate adaptation in Egedal, with a special emphasis on creating solutions that align and meet the citizens’ recommendations.