The theme and overall message for Earth Day 2022 is Invest In Our Planet. Organisations globally are coming together to hold events, share knowledge and advocate to deliver the greenhouse gas reductions needed by 2030 to meet the Paris Agreement.

The UNFCCC Handbook emphasises the importance of public participation in climate action. The use of deliberative and participatory methods will play a vital role in allowing the public and stakeholders to share their ideas and influence change, both in public policy and in delivering innovative solutions.

The Institute is currently working with Wokingham Borough Council to help them to refine their climate emergency action plan. We have delivered deliberative engagement events, based around the principles of Appreciative Inquiry, in which we facilitated discussions among residents, local businesses, officers for the borough and town/district councils, teachers and pupils in primary and secondary education.

The deliberation was conducted with nine discrete groups. The groups each met three times following the stages of Appreciative Inquiry: Discover, Dream and Design. Open and wide-ranging facilitated-based deliberation on topics such as energy and homes; transport; waste; food and the potential for behaviour change took place to answer two primary questions:

1. “How life in Wokingham Borough will be different in terms of our homes, travel, work, leisure time and the way we source food, goods, and services?”
2. “How Wokingham Borough Council can engage the community on issues around consumption emissions, and what measures can be introduced aimed at increasing awareness of these emissions amongst residents?”

The Institute completed the deliberative discussions at the beginning of April. Our team is currently analysing the main outcomes of the process, that enabled participants to focus on the active changes they are making to address climate change. As well as the ideas they have to encourage others to make similar changes and develop a collaborative learning environment to support behaviour change to address the climate emergency at a borough level.

Contact us for information on how the Institute could support your organisation’s climate action plan.