The Climate Assembly had presented their recommendations to the delegates of Germany’s leading political parties so that they could be taken into consideration during negotiations to form the new German government. The recently released coalition agreement between the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens (Bündnis 90/DIE GRÜNEN) and the Liberal Democrats (FDP) already contains important climate proposals from the Citizens' Report, especially in the area of energy. Going forward, it is equally important to make a commitment to include citizens in climate decision-making.

In response to the parties’ coalition agreement, Percy Vogel, board member of the association that organised the Climate Assembly, says: "The new government has committed itself to the 1.5° target. This is a great success, to which the Climate Assembly has also contributed. We now need an energetic government that is at least as courageous as the randomly selected citizens who drafted the Citizens’ Report to implement this. We urge the German Bundestag to make use of the results of the Climate Assembly as soon as possible. When it comes to implementing the coalition's ideas, they should take the opportunity to engage with the results of this citizen participation process.“

The German Bundestag has not yet officially responded to the Climate Assembly. However, the coalition agreement of the three parties which will form the new government now specifically states: "[...] We want to improve decision-making by using new forms of citizen dialogue such as citizens' assemblies without abandoning the principle of representation. [...] Referral of the results to the Bundestag will be ensured."

The Climate Assembly consisted of 160 randomly drawn citizens – representative of the German population as a whole – who met from April to June to discuss and formulate their recommendations for a sustainable German climate policy. The Climate Assembly took place under the patronage of the former German President, Horst Köhler. The aim of the discussions was to formulate measures to assure Germany’s compliance with the Paris Climate Agreement.

More information on the Climate Assembly and the Citizens' Report can be found at: https://buergerrat-klima.de/english-information

Press contact:

presse@buergerrat-klima.de
Friedrich Göring: +49 172 7983842

Democracy International fights to strengthen direct democracy and citizen participation worldwide. Our work centres around fostering direct democracy, citizen participation and transparent decision-making, as well as supporting activists around the world. As part of this mission, Democracy International informs its subscribers on a range of citizens participation processes such as the Climate Assembly. However, we are not an organiser of the Assembly itself.