October 21, 2021
Citizens’ Assembly “Germany’s role in the world” – We must take responsibility for climate protection!
The Citizens “Assembly – a committee put together by lot and according to certain criteria, which is intended to represent a cross-section of the population and discuss topics relevant to the future, according to the idea. For the second nationwide Citizens” Assembly in Germany, 169 participants from various federal states were selected by lot according to the criteria of place of residence, size of residence, age, gender, level of education and migration background to discuss corona, world trade, peacekeeping, development aid, migration or environmental protection. The Citizens “Assembly is organized by Mehr Demokratie e.V. and LOS. A Citizens” Assembly always brings together politics, civil society and science. Scientific institutes and other institutions provide the participants with important information on the topics and represent the opinion of the scientific community. The participants can incorporate this information into the discussion and are thus able to debate the issues in a well-founded manner. UfU was invited as an expert for this Citizens “Assembly and summarized the environmental and climate issues.
Aim of the Citizens” Assembly
The Citizens “Assembly is a relatively new instrument in Germany. If suitable, it should serve as a further participation format in Germany and provide parliament with important impetus for the direction of the future. Particularly when it comes to forward-looking issues such as climate protection or global trade, the Citizens” Assembly can provide an assessment of how the German population feels about these issues and point politicians in important directions.
Climate protection
In this Citizens “Assembly, UfU has summarized the environmental and climate issues, an important sub-topic of ‘Germany’s role in the world’. It was found that the topic of climate protection plays an important role for the majority of participants and that tackling the tasks associated with climate protection is seen as relevant for the future. The participants formulated recommendations on water protection, biodiversity conservation and sustainable management. It became clear that the economy and consumption in Germany should also be measured against the principle of sustainability. The Council recommends the protection of biodiversity and a sustainable circular economy. UfU has summarized the exact results: Environmental policy recommendations of the Citizens” Assembly “Germany’s role in the world” (PDF) (German only)
Germany’s responsibility
The participants of the Citizens “Assembly make it unmistakably clear that they ascribe a role model function to Germany in matters of climate protection. Politicians must be aware of their responsibility and do everything they can to ensure that Germany can be seen as an example of good climate protection. Particularly with regard to countries of the Global South and other ‘disadvantaged’ states, Germany is obliged to enter into cooperation and promote sustainable developments.
Relevance of the results
The results of the Citizens” Assembly in the field of environmental and climate protection have been forwarded to the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
However, the participatory role of the citizens’ councils is still limited. Although the results are forwarded to the Bundestag and the relevant ministries, they are not binding on them. According to UfU, this should change in the future so that the Citizens’ Assembly does not become an alibi instrument. How exactly the Citizens’ Councils are involved in the process and to what extent the results can have legal relevance is open to debate. But genuine participation is only possible if the results of this participation also bind the political decision-makers in some way.
In future, UfU will campaign for more citizens’ councils in Germany.
Environmental policy recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly “Germany’s role in the world” (PDF) (German only)