Worksheet for Lesson 6:
Citizen Deliberation and the Green Deal for Climate Action and the Future of Environmental Citizenship

Learning Objectives:

1. Students learn the relationship between Citizen Deliberation and the UN’s SDGs (especially Goal 16)
2. Students learn about the EU’s methods to promote citizen deliberation in decision- making regarding the Green Deal (e.g. Peer parliament, Climate Ambassadors)

A thriving society must promote peaceful communities, ensure justice for all and create effective and inclusive institutions at all levels. Goal 16 includes a wide range of activities, such as ensuring freedom of expression, access to justice, respect for human rights, reduction of inequalities, and elimination of social exclusion. Each society must have strong and efficient institutions ensuring the rights of its citizens are ensured.

The EU Youth Strategy is the framework for EU youth policy cooperation for 2019-2027. It fosters youth participation in democratic life; it also supports social and civic engagement and aims to ensure that all young people have the necessary resources to take part in society.

While working toward coordinated implementation across sectors, the EU Youth Strategy concentrates on three key areas of action centred around the three words: Engage, Connect, and Empower. 11 European Youth Goals were created through a 2017–2018 dialogue process that included young people from all over Europe. These objectives highlight issues in cross-sectoral areas that have an impact on young people’s lives. The 11 European Youth goals that were envisioned by the European Union’s youth can be realized in part thanks to the EU Youth Strategy.

These goals reflect the views of European youth and represent the vision of those active in the EU Youth Dialogue:
• Connecting EU with Youth Equality of All Genders Inclusive Societies
• Information & Constructive Dialogue Mental Health & Wellbeing
• Moving Rural Youth Forward
• Quality Employment for All
• Quality Learning
• Space and Participation for All Sustainable Green Europe
• Youth Organizations & European Programs

One of the youth goals is focused on Sustainable Green Europe. How can we achieve this goal?

EU has adopted various initiatives to help young people to have an active role in certain issues they might be concerned of

European Parliament Citizen’s Initiative

With the help of the European Citizens’ Initiative, a tool made available by the Lisbon Treaty, individuals have a way to ask the European Commission to suggest laws or other policies.
You can actively participate in the development of EU policy by launching a European Parliament Citizens initiative. You can start a citizens’ initiative to ask the European Commission to propose new EU legislation if you want the EU to act on a certain issue. Before you launch your initiative, you need to set up a group of organizers. The group should be made up of at least 7 EU citizens, living in at least 7 different EU countries.
They don’t have to be nationals of 7 different countries, but they must be old enough to vote in European Parliament elections in their country.

If you are interested in how to participate, click here.

What is the European Climate Pact?

The European Climate Pact offers individuals, groups, and organizations a way to get involved in climate action across Europe; learn about climate change, create solutions, and put them into action. The Pact aims to become a lively space to share information, debate, and act on the climate crisis, and offer support for the European climate movement to grow and consolidate.

How can you participate?

Raise awareness of climate issues and EU actions. Encourage climate action & catalyze engagement. Connect citizens and organizations that act on climate and help them to learn from each other.

Anyone can be part of the European Climate Pact.
Two ways to participate:
• Become a Climate Pact Ambassador
• Take climate-friendly action and make a pledge

Become a Climate Pact Ambassador

European Pact Ambassadors inform, educate, motivate, and encourage their networks and communities to act on climate change. They link their networks to those of other participants in the European Climate Pact.

How can you join?

You must be an active public servant or a leader in your community or organization to be eligible to serve as a Pact Ambassador.

We warmly welcome European opinion leaders and influencers from all local communities, networks, civil society organizations, youth, and student initiatives. Additionally, you must live in an EU member state.

Benefits of Being an Ambassador

• The creation of a public profile on the Pact’s website about each ambassador and acknowledgement from the European Commission
• Access to the regional and European Pact Ambassador networks
• Access to information and toolkits on the Pact, climate change, and how to interact and communicate with others about these issues
• Online access to Pact-branded content (websites and social media)
• Possibilities to increase your advocacy and visibility for climate action on the Pact website and through the Pact’s social media channels.
• Possibilities to take part in Pact activities all over Europe access to workshops with policy experts on issues related to climate action both online and in person.
• Ad-hoc assistance with capacity building.

Activities of Climate Ambassadors

• Raising awareness about the causes and impacts of climate change. Encouraging their networks to take personal and organizational climate action, including making pledges as a Pact Ambassador
• Taking part in public and private events
• Communicating about their climate action, goals, and overall Pact activities Organizing discussions and events both offline and online, such as peer parliaments.
• Organizing activities related to climate and environmental action (for example, planting trees, car-free days, information, and awareness days)
• Establishing connections between regional climate activists and other relevant networks and stakeholders
• Learning from one another in a peer-to-peer environment
• Testing climate solutions to enable their replication and dissemination.

Friends of the Climate Pact

Friends of the Climate Pact are encouraged to create and disseminate Pact-branded communication material. Unlike Ambassadors, Friends of the Climate Pact are not required to make a pledge nor fit the criteria described above.

Peer Parliaments

Discuss with a group of loved ones, friends, classmates, or colleagues how we can best fight climate change by altering the way we travel, consume food, and use energy.

Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president of the European Commission, issued this call for friends, relatives, neighbours, and coworkers from all over Europe to convene for Peer Parliaments and discuss how individuals, local and national governments, and the European Union can most effectively fight climate change with regards to:
• Sustainable mobility Energy transition
• Sustainable food consumption

Peer Parliaments

Discuss with a group of loved ones, friends, classmates, or colleagues how we can best fight climate change by altering the way we travel, consume food, and use energy.
Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president of the European Commission, issued this call for friends, relatives, neighbours, and coworkers from all over Europe to convene for Peer Parliaments and discuss how individuals, local and national governments, and the European Union can most effectively fight climate change with regards to:
• Sustainable mobility Energy transition
• Sustainable food consumption

Want to run your own Peer Parliament?

The EU gives you the opportunity to run your own parliament as a Peer Parliament host. You can gather your friends and give them the basic information on the topics and then open the floor for discussion. European citizens carried out a total of 461 Peer Parliaments from November 2021 to March 2022 across the 26 EU Member States.

Copy of Citizen deliberation and the green deal for climate change_compressed

REFERENCES

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/peace-justice
https://cordis.europa.eu/programme/id/H2020_LC-GD-10-1-2020
https://climate-pact.europa.eu/ambassadors/become-ambassador-or-friend-pact_en
https://climate-pact.europa.eu/about/peer-parliaments_en

It's Quiz Time!

It’s quiz time!

Here’s a fun quiz that you could use to test your understanding of the key concepts covered in this lesson: