Going carbon neutral: the role of citizens in designing local policies to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change

As the climate catastrophe continues to deepen into the 2020s, there has been a marked drive amongst citizens, activists and other stakeholders to mobilise to raise awareness around the multiple social and ecological crises that are resulting (Arya and Henn, 2021). However, despite such mobilisation, international governance on the climate has created only relatively limited space for legitimate democratic decision-making to take place outside of (primarily national) electoral contests (Agger, 2021). Whilst there are tensions between powerholders and citizens on the matter of inclusive democratic practices, there are also deliberative processes that are being developed collaboratively with the purpose of creating understandings that may lead to collectively addressing environmental issues (Friant, 2019; Dryzek and Stevenson, 2011). This has recently been emphasised by Sir Robert Watson in the 2021 UN report 'Making Peace with Nature’, where it is noted that the climate emergency requires collaboration between, and behavioural changes by, governments, businesses and individual citizens (United Nations Environment Programme, 2021). Although such citizen/elite engagement is evident at national and international levels, we know relatively little about local level interactions between individual citizens and powerholders concerning the climate emergency. Since March 2019, Climate Emergency UK (2022) records show that 409 local authorities (78%) across the UK have declared a climate emergency; they have published carbon neutral commitments and action plans – with some incorporating the views of their citizens into these designs. The impact of these plans is difficult to measure, as many are in their early stages and there is limited scholarship on the various UK local authority-led initiatives progressing across the country. This paper contributes to an emerging body of evidence concerning UK local level interactions between individual citizens and powerholders concerning the climate emergency. It is based on findings from a collaborative project with the Nottingham City Council (UK) that considers how to involve local citizens in the framing of the local authority’s Carbon Neutral Nottingham 2028 Action Plan (CN28). It is part of an extended research programme which began in 2021 with Phase 1. The current report presents an analysis of the findings from Phase 2 fieldwork using eight online focus groups with 36 Nottingham residents that were carried out between March and July 2022. The key findings from the research indicate that Nottingham citizens felt that it was everyone’s responsibility to engage in developing climate change solutions - themselves, their communities, local and national government, and private industry. However, there was also a general sense of frustration at what they perceived as a lack of urgency and insufficient systemic action taken by the UK Government and global corporations. By way of contrast, citizens were supportive of local initiatives such as Nottingham’s vision for carbon neutrality by 2028 (CN28). The findings suggest that these citizens were passionate, motivated and eager to contribute in a variety of ways to address climate change issues in their local areas and across the city – and they welcomed opportunities for enhanced civic engagement in crafting local carbon neutral policies.