Climate Action discussion groups are over – find out what’s next

How can society, from citizens to private corporations, help create concrete changes? 

Between September 2023 and April 2024, Debating Europe ran four online focus group series (small and facilitated citizen group discussion) to discuss four strands of the EU missions on climate action. 160 citizens supported the efforts to a green future by sharing their views, ideas and solutions on:

1. Transforming our Cities: Cities play a crucial role in achieving climate neutrality (net zero greenhouse gas emissions) by 2050. Cities consume over 65% of the world’s energy and account for more than 70% of global CO2 emissions. What is your city doing to become climate neutral? How can business, citizens and the European Union help?

2. Living with Climate Change: Despite continuing efforts to reduce emissions we are still off-track from reaching our climate targets and as the planet continues to warm we will need to adapt our lives to  the inevitable effects of climate change. Are you ready to live with the effects of climate change? What can government, businesses and citizens do to make the necessary changes? 

3. A Healthy Soil for Europe: Healthy soils are indispensable for food security, clean water, biodiversity conservation, and to mitigate climate change. They underpin our cultural heritage and are a cornerstone of our economy. We can’t live without food – as simple as that!

4. Protect our Ocean and Waters: Oceans and waters are a singular, interconnected system, facing many threats —ranging from pollution and overfishing to habitat destruction and the impacts of climate change. Once again, we cannot imagine a world without clean water – as simple as that!

Thanks to all the citizens who participated to our series of group discussions on these four EU Missions!

Citizens spoke. What’s next?

Stay tuned for our series of online panel events! We will explore these topics with the citizens’ inputs we collected, sharing them with key stakeholders and exploring how together we can thrive toward concrete change!

Dates to be confirmed soon!

About the SSH Centre project:

Debating Europe is running this focus groups series as a partner in SSH CENTRE (Social Sciences and Humanities for Climate, Energy and Transport Research Excellence), a Horizon Europe project that aims to accelerate the EU’s transition to carbon neutrality by strengthening social innovation, cross-sectoral collaboration and transdisciplinary policy advice.