The Citizen Assembly for Climate has been recognised with the National Environment Award granted by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO). One of the extraordinary prizes has been awarded to this initiative, made up of 100 citizen representatives, a group of experts and a coordination panel, "for having been a model of participation dedicated to deliberating, reflecting and proposing solutions to face one of the significant global challenges.

One of the experts in this assembly is the researcher at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), Asun Lera St Clair, who has advised the government and the community of citizens. The aim is to establish a social dialogue on the significant issues involved in the ecological transition around the question that will be the first mandate of the Assembly: "A safer and fairer Spain against climate change" How do we do it?

"The groups of experts have met every two weeks since October, and we have been like the "midwives" of the citizens since they are the real protagonists of this project; it is an exercise in deliberative democracy," says the BSC researcher.

Citizen Assembly for Climate

In the Citizen Assembly for Climate, citizens had to address critical issues related to solutions to build a safer country with fewer greenhouse gas emissions and less vulnerability to the risks and impacts of climate change. That requires considering solidarity and social justice.

As a result of its deliberations, the Assembly has delivered to the government a report of recommendations and proposals that will serve for debate at all levels of the administration and of the actors of the economy and society. A total of 172 requests ranging from consumption, transport, working hours, food, land use, conservation of natural spaces...

About Asun Lera St Clair

Dr Asun Lera St. Clair has a PhD in Sociology from the University of Bergen (Norway) and a Master's in Philosophy and Ethics from the University of South Florida (USA), as well as a BA in Philosophy from the University of Barcelona. Since last year, she leads the Digital Assurance Research Center in DNV Group (Norway) in the Research and Development area.

A leading researcher in BSC's Earth Sciences Department since 2018, Dr Lera St. Clair was the lead author of the Fifth Assessment Report on Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

She is also a member of the Advisory Committee of the Sustainability in the Digital Age Initiative of Future Earth (an initiative promoted by the UN and UNESCO, among others), the Advisory Committee for Sustainable Development of the Catalan Government (CADS), and the Horizon Europe Mission Board for Climate Change Adaptation and Societal Transformations.

• Read the interview with Asun Lera St Clair on the Citizen Assembly for Climate website (in Spanish) here.