On June 6, over 30,000 thousand invitations were sent out to the citizens of Gentofte. The municipal council has decided to set up a Climate Citizens’ Assembly with 36 members, who will be chosen by lot among the citizens of Gentofte. The upcoming 36 members have been invited by the municipal council to help design the municipality’s climate policy. During the fall, the selected citizens will gain knowledge from experts, talk to each other and together answer the task from the politicians: We need your help to imagine a future in Gentofte Municipality where we together transition to a climate-neutral and sustainable behavior in everyday life .
There is also a working question for the members of the Climate Citizens’ Assembly to answer:
How can we help each other across the municipality, citizens, associations and businesses to translate the goal of climate neutrality into concrete actions in everyday life in Gentofte Municipality?
A sustainable municipality together
The theme is how to create a sustainable municipality together. In order to achieve the green transition, we need good and smart solutions from both the municipality, but just as much from its citizens. By launching a climate citizen assembly, Gentofte joins the pioneering municipalities that are asking citizens to get involved in the democratic engine room. Only by involving citizens can we create a climate policy that really makes a difference.
We Do Democracy has designed a process where citizens over five meetings during the fall are equipped to prepare recommendations to the municipal council in Gentofte Municipality. The entire process is designed to meet OECD standards for citizen engagement. This ensures that the process is in line with international best practice. By selecting the members of the Climate Citizens’ Assembly by drawing lots, we gather a group of citizens who are representative of the entire Gentofte Municipality. This gives a good insight into what the citizens of the municipality think about the green transition.
We Do Democracy project manager Kolja Dahlin says about the climate town hall meeting:
It is super important for the green transition that Gentofte Municipality takes both democracy and its citizens seriously and invites them into the decision-making process. If we are to transform our society, we need everyone on board. This also applies to all of us citizens with our consumption and behavior. Therefore, it is really positive that Gentofte Municipality is asking the Climate Citizens’ Assembly to come up with solutions on how we can achieve a sustainable future across the municipality, associations, businesses and citizens.
At We Do Democracy, we are happy and proud to be running and facilitating the citizens’ assembly. In close collaboration with the good people at Gentofte Municipality, we will help to expand citizen gatherings in the climate area even more. At the same time, we must help the members of the citizens’ assembly deliver recommendations that can really help Gentofte in the municipality’s transition to a more sustainable future. The first sessions will take place in September, and you can follow along on the following page: https://klimaborgersamling.gentofte.dk/da