On Friday February 14, 2025, the first Norwegian National Citizens’ Assembly (People’s Panel in Norwegian) submitted its recommendations on sustainable consumption to the Norwegian government. Minister for the Ministry of Digitalization and Public Administration and Minister for the Ministry of Climate and Environment accepted the recommendations.
The recommendations are about how Norway can reduce its consumption of electronics, clothing, furniture and other goods in a socially just way. 54 random Norwegians from all over the country spent over 40 hours over the winter to come up with answers to this really tough question.
We Do Democracy has been part of the Citizens’ Assembly independent third-party secretariat together with our good partners in SoCentral. The secretariat has worked based on the OECD’s principles for deliberative processes in public decision-making. And therefore we can guarantee that the 54 Norwegians have made an effort. Across their differences, they have come together and have prepared good, nuanced recommendations for the government. Recommendations that show that ordinary people want a green changeover, even this comes very close to their own lives.
It also means that we at We Do Democracy are at the end of the first National Citizens’ Assembly that we have conducted. It is not an understatement to say that this is a hugely important milestone for us in our work to renew and develop our democracy. We are therefore extremely grateful that the SoCentral Team invited us to be part of this task and that the Norwegian government had the courage to take the lead in writing Nordic democracy history.
Watch the launch of the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly here: https://www.regjeringen.no/no/aktuelt/invitasjon-norges-forste-folkepanel-gir-rad-til-[…]en-about-how-we-can-reduce-overconsumption/id3086759/
The recommendation report can be found here https://folkepanel.regjeringen.no/