The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has submitted for a hearing and public information a draft Ministerial Order to launch the necessary work for the preparation and organisation of the Citizens’ Assembly for Climate, an instrument to strengthen the channels of dialogue and citizen participation that will allow a social debate to be established on the search for solutions to the climate crisis.
Its implementation is one of the priority lines of action of the Declaration on the Climate and Environmental Emergency in Spain, enshrined in the Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition.
The draft Ministerial Order lays the foundations of the Assembly and is based on the analysis of experiences and lessons learned from other assemblies of neighbouring countries, such as the French, Scottish or English, with a view to proposing a solid basis in accordance with the national context on which this initiative is based, and which can be enriched through the public information process.
The Assembly is configured as a participatory deliberative exercise to generate reflection, collective knowledge, debate and consensus on what should be the solutions to the major transformations that need to be undertaken, and it does so in a favourable regulatory context: Spain now has a strategic framework for energy and climate that will allow our country to be more resilient to the impacts of climate change and climate neutral by mid-century.
COMPOSITION, MANDATE AND FUNCTIONING
The proposed Assembly will be made up of one hundred people representing the diversity of Spanish society, selected independently and randomly, applying a methodology that ensures the quality and representativeness of the sample based on criteria such as age, gender, educational level, geographical origin and attitude towards climate change.
The proposed mandate for the Citizens’ Assembly will revolve around the question: “A safer Spain in the face of climate change, how do we do it?”, without prejudice to specifying more limited and specific topics related to the solutions that are within our reach in the areas of mitigation and adaptation to climate change, with the horizon of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
The Assembly must propose recommendations that will be used for debate at all levels of the Administration, as well as to the different economic and social actors, and which will be sent to the Government and the Congress of Deputies to ensure knowledge of the proposals and preferences of citizens in terms of climate action.
To this end, the Assembly is expected to meet for five sessions virtually, taking advantage of the benefits that this format entails in terms of inclusion, health risks and a smaller environmental footprint.
GOVERNANCE AND TRANSPARENCY OF THE ASSEMBLY
In order to establish the transparency and independence of this initiative, governance bodies are established in the form of a Coordination Panel, an Independent Group of Experts and Ambassadors. In addition, there will be an independent technical team for the selection of citizens and another specialized in deliberative processes, to dynamize the sessions of the Assembly.
It is envisaged that all information relating to the work of the Assembly and the group of independent experts will be collected on its own website, which will be launched following the publication of the final Ministerial Order.
ADDRESSING THE SOCIETAL CHALLENGE OF CLIMATE ACTION
At a time when the foundations of the Spanish institutional framework for the fight against climate change are already laid, the Assembly’s deliberations are a step towards the implementation of actions that should lead to solutions, proposals and concrete ideas that can be implemented in Spanish territory to support the achievement of its objectives.
“Achieving our energy and climate goals is a huge societal challenge that will not be possible without ambitious climate policies and social participation and support for those policies. It is essential to have a well-informed citizenry that accompanies them on this path through a change in habits in their day-to-day lives,” said Valvanera Ulargui, director of the Spanish Office for Climate Change.
In this sense, Ulargui pointed out that “the Citizens’ Assembly for Climate is an enormous opportunity to launch a participatory process in our country around a challenge as complex and urgent as the climate emergency, in a context of ecological transition and great economic and social challenges”.
PUBLIC INFORMATION PROCESS
The objective of the public hearing and information process is to gather the opinion of interested persons and entities. Contributions can be sent until June 16, 2021 to the address bzn-asambleaclima@miteco.es, indicating in the subject: “Regulations. Citizens’ Assembly for Climate”.
