‘A citizens’ council can be a wake-up call.'

14 January 2025 Research news item

January sees the launch of the National Citizens' Climate Consultation in which 175 citizens will sit down together to help think about climate policy. Kristof Jacobs, senior lecturer in Empirical Political Science, will evaluate this Citizens' Consultation together with colleagues from The Hague University of Applied Sciences and Tilburg University.

The Burgerberaad Klimaat is an initiative of the previous cabinet to get citizens more involved in the climate challenge and in political decision-making. 175 citizens discuss with each other and with experts how we can eat, use things and travel in a way that is better for the climate.

The participants are selected by so-called ‘double draw’ to reflect society as much as possible, says Kristof Jacobs, senior lecturer in Empirical Political Science. This involves looking at age, gender, education level and how people view climate policy. Jacobs: ‘So climate sceptics are also part of the citizens’ consultation.'

Together with colleagues from The Hague University of Applied Sciences and Tilburg University, Jacobs will evaluate the citizens' council. In doing so, the researchers will not only look at the citizens' council itself, but also after the preliminary process and follow-up; what does the cabinet do with the advice?

Why should you let people who don't know anything about climate participate in thinking about climate policy?

'Because choices made by the government to combat climate change affect everyone. For example, people pay for disposable plastic or have to deal with a flight tax. So the government needs citizens to implement policy. And often it falters exactly there. Sometimes policy is very effective on paper - in terms of tons ofCO₂ reduced - but if implementation lags behind, not much remains of that effectiveness.'

So policy becomes more effective if you let citizens participate?

'That is indeed the promise of citizen consultation. It is a form of participation that ensures that the government includes citizens in implementation. Especially on policy issues where the government expects a lot from citizens, a citizens' council can be interesting. Moreover, it is an opportunity to let ‘the silent middle’ have its say.

What happens to the results of a citizens' council?

‘After 11 weekend days, the Citizens’ Consultation comes up with an advice to the cabinet. Within six months, the cabinet has to let it know what it will do with that advice. The House of Representatives then discusses the advice and the cabinet's plans.'

Why is this research needed?

‘There is a lot of experimentation with citizens’ councils, locally, provincially and now nationally. Because of its scale, this citizens' council offers an opportunity to make an in-depth analysis of the factors that determine its success. Our research perspective is broad: we look at the organisation, the participants, at politics and governance as well as at the importance for the wider Dutch society. We do not want things to go the way they did in France. There, President Macron made glory of citizen participation in climate policy in 2021, but the eventual Climate Act reflected very little of the French Citizens‘ Council's proposals.’

What do citizens' councils deliver?

‘Often a citizens’ council points policymakers, but also researchers like myself, to blind spots. In Arnhem, for example, when deliberating on waste, citizens turned out to be particularly interested in how to dispose of waste, in ease of use. There are all kinds of containers, but some stuff simply doesn't fit in them. Or look at Antwerp, which has a so-called citizens' budget: citizens are responsible for part of the budget. In a poor neighbourhood, they opted for flower boxes in the street. As a policymaker, you might quickly think, we're not going to spend the money on that. But for the well-being of the residents, it turned out to be very important. Citizen participation can sometimes lead to surprising insights. It can really be a wake-up-call.'

Contact information

Organizational unit: Political Science, Nijmegen School of Management, Institute for Management Research
About person: Dr K.T.E. Jacobs (Kristof)
Theme: Politics