Yahoo News Dutch ponder climate-friendly diets while Norwegians talk money: Inside citizens' assemblies
Two very different national citizens’ climate assemblies kicked off at the beginning of 2025.
In the Netherlands, the first meeting of the new National Citizen’s Council on Climate took place last week.
It is the first time an assembly like this is being held in the Netherlands. A group of 175 people from all walks of life with diverse opinions on climate policy are coming together to discuss climate policy.
Chair of the council Nienke Meijer called the assembly a representation of “the Netherlands in miniature”.
They will meet for five more weekends in the coming six months to answer the question: “How can we, as the Netherlands, eat, use things and travel in a way that is better for the climate?”
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The responses they come up with will be presented to the cabinet and House of Representatives in September.
What is different about citizens’ assemblies?
Citizens’ assemblies are a unique kind of democratic instrument that allows people to have a direct say in advising the government about climate policy. On the flip side, it also allows governments to get an insight into what their people want.
“All political parties, both coalition and opposition, want to listen more and better to citizens,” according to Meijer. “This citizens' council gives them the opportunity to put this into practice.”
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They bring together a group of people to discuss an issue or idea and they then reach conclusions about what they think should happen. Around the world, these assemblies have been held on everything from electoral reforms to abortion law and biodiversity.
“This citizens' council is an important step in giving people a voice in national climate policy,” says Dutch minister for climate and green growth Sophie Hermans.
They are particularly powerful when linked to policymakers, like the one in the Netherlands, but there is also a growing trend of climate assemblies called by civil society organisations.
Norwegian assembly aims to ‘spark a national conversation’
A different national-level climate assembly has also started its work in the last couple of weeks. In Norway, the Framtidspanelet is the latest in an emerging trend of climate assemblies being called by civil society organisations.
Seven groups - Save the Children, Norwegian Church Aid, The Norwegian Children and Youth Council, Caritas, WWF Norway, think tank Langsikt, and The Future in Our Hands - have convened this 66-person-strong Citizen’s Assembly for Norway’s future.
Eirik Mofoss, CEO of Langsikt, says it aims to “spark a national conversation about how Norway can contribute to a better future for both current and future generations in the face of shared global challenges”.
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The assembly seeks to answer a pretty broad question: “Norway is one of the richest countries in the world. How can we use our wealth to benefit the world, ourselves and future generations?”
The discovery of oil in Norway in the 1960s created an enormous amount of wealth in a very short space of time. To manage this wealth, the country created the Government Pension Fund Global - also known as “the oil fund”.
It now owns 1.5 per cent of all public companies in the world, is the largest owner of European stock and is valued at roughly $1.74 trillion (€1.67 trillion).
One of the sub-questions for this citizens’ assembly specifically asks how this oil fund can be used now and in the future.
The 66 participants were chosen from a pool of 40,000 Norwegians and are representative of people of all ages, genders, localities, education and views. A conference will be held in May this year to present their recommendations.
