Citizens Convention for Climate La Convention Citoyenne pour le Climat

The Citizens Convention for Climate was a citizens’ assembly that took place in 2019-2020 in France. It was initiated by the French president in response to the ‘Yellow Vests’ protest movement against the increase in fuel taxes. The objective of the Citizens Convention for Climate was to allow citizens to learn about, debate, and prepare draft laws in order to create regulatory and legislative proposals aimed at reducing France’s carbon emissions by 40% from its 1990 levels in the spirit of social justice. The assembly was modelled after deliberative experiments known as ‘mini publics’ and was organised in seven official sessions, with three additional unofficial sessions. One hundred and fifty citizens, meant to be representative of the French population, were randomly selected to take part. The citizens divided themselves into working groups on five issues: food, housing, employment, transport, and consumption. The Citizens Convention for Climate made 149 proposals that the president committed to submitting “without a filter” either to referendum, to a vote in Parliament or to direct implementation. The degree of compliance with this commitment has been subject to criticism.