Democratic Innovations in a Green Transition (DIGT)

The research project DIGT studied how to strengthen democracy in a time of multiple climate and biodiversity crises. Emphasis was on the Danish Climate Citizens’ Assembly as well as other climate assemblies in Denmark and abroad.

Photo: Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities
 Photo: Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities

Citizens’ assemblies have become an important instrument for addressing the political dilemmas and challenges related to climate change and green transition policies. At the same time, there is relatively little knowledge about their effects and contributions to democracy and the green agenda.

To overcome this lacuna, DIGT examined Denmark’s climate citizens’ assembly as well as other assemblies. The main research question was how citizens’ assemblies strengthen support for green transition policies, and to what extent it affects existing channels for public debate and democratic decision-making.

DIGT combined the study of deliberative democracy with affect theory, new materialism, and science and technology studies (STS). The three subprojects were particularly interested in questions of impact, participation, and sovereignty.

The goal of the project was to provide insights for scholars and political actors interested in democracy, climate change, and the Anthropocene.

THE PROJECT IS CLOSED
Project period: 2021-2024
Principal Investigator (PI): Lars Tønder

 

 

 

Subproject 1: Climate citizens’ assemblies as democratic innovation
SP1 situated the Danish Climate Citizens’ Assembly within debates about democratic innovation. It looked for how the model intersected with the lived experiences of its participants, and how it defined specific modes of participation and policy preferences. SP1 used insights into these areas to assess the capacity of the assembly to create empowerment and support for green transition polities. To this end, SP1 also compared the Danish case to other European climate citizens’ assemblies.

Subproject 2: Climate citizens’ assemblies and the Danish parliament
SP2 focused on how the Danish Climate Citizens’ Assembly related to existing democratic institutions, with special focus on the parliament. It answered the questions of how popular consent was channeled and reshaped in the assembly and how compatible this innovation was with the Danish constitutional system and its tradition for citizen participation. Furthermore, the project questioned the sovereignty generated in the interaction between parliament and the assembly.

Subproject 3: Climate citizens’ assemblies and civil society
SP3 compared the Danish Climate Citizens' Assembly with other civil society initiatives. It was particularly interested in how the assembly affected the efforts of other modes of participation, and whether or not it co-opted or even crowded out their place in society. To this end, SP3 used a “quali-quant” approach to map Denmark's climate change organisations, showing the many modes of democratic participation and their positioning vis-à-vis the Danish Climate Citizens’ Assembly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lars Tønder (2025). Power in the Anthropocene

Jens Marquardt et al. (2025). Reconciling Democracy and Sustainability? Three Political Challenges and the Role of Democratic Innovations

Lars Tønder, Irina Papazu, Anton Grau Larsen, Catrine Holst (2024). Demokratisk impact: model og forslag til videre undersøgelser

Lars Tønder (2024). Making democratic fit for climate: massive open online course

Lars Tønder, Helena Drescher Kluth, Ulrikka Skovdal (2024). Repræsentation i borgersamlinger

Ingrid Helene Brandt Jensen (2024). Jane Bennett: Levende materialiet

Ingrid Helene Brandt Jensen (2024). Lingering Democracy: Stories of democratic participation amid climate and ecological crisis

Ingrid Helene Brandt Jensen, Emma Holland (2022). The politics of climate change and the Danish Climate Citizens' Assembly

Mads Ejsing, Lars Tønder, Ingrid Helene Jensen, Janus Porsild Hansen (2024). Do We Have Time for Democracy? Climate Action and the Problem of Time in the Anthropocene

Lars Tønder (2024). Kan demokrati skabe en bæredygtig fremtid for alle? Debatten om demokratiets rolle i den grønne omstilling

Lars Tønder (2024). Klimaborgerting, bæredygtighed og demokratisk fornyelse i en antropocæn verden

Mads Ejsing, Adam Veng, Irina Papazu (2023). Green Politics Beyond the State: Radicalizing the Democratic Potentials of Climate Citizens’ Assemblies.

Mads Ejsing, Adam Veng, Irina Papazu (2023). Is Denmark a green entrepreneurial state? Mapping Danish climate politics between civic mobilization and business cooptation

Lars Tønder (2023). Notat om kobling og civilsamfund i Danmarks nationale klimaborgerting

Maria Frahm Bjørn, Anders Blok, Lars Tønder (2023). Notat om anden fase af Borgersamling om Lynetteholm

Maria Frahm Bjørn, Lars Tønder (2023). Notat om første fase af Borgersamling om Lynetteholm

Lars Tønder, Ingrid Brandt Jensen og Frederik Langkjær (2021). Forskere: Sådan giver vi klimaborgertinget bedre rammer, Altinget

Lars Tønder, Amnon Lev, Mads Ejsing, Irina Papazu, Ingrid Brandt Jensen, Søren Christensen (2021). Christiansborg nedsætter et Klimaborgerting med 100 borgere. Men politikerne end ikke dukke op og lytte til deres anbefalinger, Politiken

Lars Tønder (2021). Giv klimaborgerting bedre rammer - Policy brief om brugen af klimaborgerting i den grønne omstilling

Lars Tønder (2021). Giv klimaborgerting bedre rammer, Baggrundsnotat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Climate citizens’ assemblies are one of the fastest-growing types of democratic innovation. In Denmark alone, there are multiple examples of how they inspire change and democratic engagement. Below is a selection of materials for use and inspiration. Feel free to contact DIGT if you have additional material that you would like to add to the list.

Klimaborgertinget
The Danish Citizen Assembly on the climate appointed as part of the 2019 Agreement on the Climate Act.

Klimaborgersamling Greve Kommune
For information on the Climate Assembly of the municipality of Greve.

Borgersamlingen Bæredygtigt Forbrug
The citizen assembly on sustainable consumption created by Danish Regions: Region Hovedstaden and Region Midtjylland.

Borgersamling om Lynetteholmen
For information on the Citizen Assembly on artificial island Lynetteholmen that are to be constructed in the Copenhagen Harbor.

OECD report on Citizen Assemblies
The 2020 OECD report “Innovative Citizen Participation and New Democratic Institutions - Catching the Deliberative Wave”.

Teknologirådet
The Danish Board on Technology is a Danish practitioner in the field of citizen assemblies. They facilitated among others the Danish Citizen Assembly on the Climate.

We Do Democracy
We Do Democracy is a Danish practitioner in the field of citizen assemblies. They have among others facilitated the citizen assembly in the municipality of Greve, as well as on the assembly on sustainable consumption and on Lynetteholmen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Researchers (internal)

Name Title Phone E-mail
Lars Tønder Professor with special responsibilities +4535320489 E-mail

Funded by

Logo - Independent Research Fund Denmark

Democratic Innovations in a Green Transition (DIGT) was funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark

Project: Democratic Innovations in a Green Transition (DIGT)
Project period: 2021-2024

Collaboration partner

The Danish Board of Technology

Contact

Lars Tønder
Department of Political Science
Mail: lt@ifs.ku.dk
Phone: +45 35 32 04 89

Video

Debate on citizens’ assemblies and sustainable energy at University of Copenhagen conference “In my backyard, please!” (in Danish only)

Researchers (external)

Irina Papazu, Associate professor, IT-University of Copenhagen
Amnon Lev, Associate professor, Facility of Law, University of Copenhagen
Mads Ejsing, Postdoc, Center for Applied Ecological Thinking, University of Copenhagen
Adam Veng, PhD student, SAXO Institute, University of Copenhagen
Frederik Langkjær, The Danish Board on Technology