Hørsholm Municipality’s Climate Citizen Panel

The climate challenges pose a number of questions for Danish municipalities. On the one hand, emissions must be reduced so that municipalities live up to the Paris Agreement. On the other hand, the municipality must also adapt to the consequences, which we are already starting to see. To solve this dual challenge, Hørsholm Municipality decided to implement a climate citizen panel to provide the citizens’ perspective.

The citizen panel was asked a core question by the municipal council in Hørsholm, which formed the citizen panel’s job description. The core question was: “We need your help to prioritize how Hørsholm Municipality should reach the goal of becoming a CO2-neutral and climate-resilient municipality.” In four sessions, citizens worked on the question and produced recommendations for politicians.

We Do Democracy was the lead facilitator and third-party secretariat for the citizen panel. In this way, we ensured the legitimacy of the process. In addition, we worked with the local council and administration to establish a political mandate, develop the core question and design the process. Finally, we facilitated the sessions.

• 20,401 citizens aged 16 to 99+ were invited to join the citizen panel via Digital Post. 350 citizens wanted to participate in the process.
• 24 citizens were recruited based on the selection criteria: age, gender, education level and residence in the municipality. Thus, the citizen panel was representative of Hørsholm Municipality.
• The citizen panel members presented their recommendations on November 28, 2022 at City Hall in front of the members of the municipal council.

Read the citizens’ final recommendations here.