Innovating democracy to tackle climate challenges
As cities confront the urgent threats of climate change, they must also navigate the complex realities of equity, governance, and social cohesion. The Climate Democracy Lab offers a dedicated space to address these challenges by empowering local governments and practitioners to explore democratic innovations that enhance citizen participation and collaborative decision-making for climate action.
Taking place in Grenoble from 25 to 27 March 2025, the Lab is a dynamic three-day event co-organized by Eurocities and Grenoble-Alpes Métropole as part of the Nets4Dem initiative. It will bring together diverse stakeholders—local authorities, democracy practitioners, and community members—to collaboratively address the intersections of climate action and democracy.
Together, participants will focus on four key dilemmas of climate democracy:
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Long-term vs. Short-term: Balancing urgent actions with the needs of future generations.
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Local vs. Global: Managing resources with both local and global impacts.
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Rich vs. Poor: Ensuring equity in climate transitions.
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Individual vs. Collective: Supporting behavior change alongside structural transformation.
How it works
Democracy Lab serves as a dedicated space for local government officials and democracy practitioners to promote collaborative problem-solving and democratic innovation at the local level. The event takes place in Grenoble from 25 to 27 March 20205, bringing together diverse stakeholders to delve into democratic innovations by jointly working on the real-life challenges presented by selected cities – the challenge owners. Over three days, participants will work in small teams of peers, assisted by a facilitator, to design actionable, ready-to-implement democratic interventions to bring them back to their administrations. In this creative effort, the teams will be assisted by mentors: democracy experts and practitioners from the Nets4Dem network, Grenoble-Alpes Metropole staff and experts, and local stakeholders. To ensure learning exchange and breadth of perspectives, participants will take part in the Workshop with the Living - an innovative and participatory experience designed to integrate the interests and perspectives of both human and non-human living beings into discussions about public policies and territorial issues.
The working language of the Democracy Lab is English. However, group discussions can be conducted in French, and we will provide non-professional interpretation in French if needed.. Participation in the event is open to cities, towns and organisations in the EU and Horizon Europe countries, and free of charge. We provide lunches and coffee breaks but do not cover travel or accommodation costs.
Please note that due to limited capacity, registration is restricted to two representatives per city.