Climate Citizens

Climate Citizens is research group based at Lancaster University aiming to change how people engage with the creation of climate policy. We want to transform climate policy from something that happens to people, to something that happens with people. We work with a wide group of stakeholders, including government, businesses and environmental groups, to promote greater citizen engagement in climate issues, and climate policymaking. Reaching carbon neutrality will require significant changes to how people live their lives. People should have a say in what these changes look like, and hold valuable insights that can contribute to better designed policy. Meeting the UK’s climate commitments in a way that works for everyone in the country requires a much better form of dialogue between citizens and the state. This is why there is a need for better quality deliberation, not just one way engagement, in the policy process. Deliberation is a form of engagement that allows people to learn about the problems at hand and contribute towards the design of solutions. Climate Citizens aims to understand the public’s view climate policies, and design and test ways to embed meaningful deliberation in the way climate and energy policy is designed. We work closely with policy partners to develop and trial approaches that can work in the real world.