Alberta Climate Dialogue (ABCD)

u A five-year project (2010-2015) exploring how direct participation by citizens in policymaking deliberations can enhance Alberta responses to climate change at municipal and provincial levels

u Funding through SSHRC Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) grant

u University, government, civil society and industry partners, including C2D2

u Researchers and practitioners from Canada, US, Europe, and Australia contributing their expertise to Alberta-based practice and learning

Core research questions

u How the shape of citizen deliberation

u Choices about deliberative process

u Scale, how participants are selected, duration

u Extent of linkage to policy processes

u shapes outcomes like

u Participant attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors

u Influence on policy decisions

u Attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of broader public

Three deliberations

u Citizens Panel on Edmontons Energy and Climate Challenges (2012)

u Energy Efficiency Choices (2013)

u Water in a Changing Climate (2014)

Citizens Panel on Edmontons Energy and Climate Challenges

u From October to December, 2012 ( six Saturdays)

u Used professional polling firm to recruit 56 demographically representative and attitudinally diverse Edmontonians

u Hosts: ABCD, Centre for Public Involvement; City of Edmonton

u Panelists heard from City representatives, industry, and university experts

u Diverse forms of deliberation used, along with keypad voting

u Key documents: Edmontons Energy Transition Discussion Paper and Citizens Panel Handbook

u The Panels Final Reportwas completed in January 2013 and was presented to City Councils Executive Committee on April 15th, 2013

VIDEO

u https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5yMpnQlUF0

Citizens Panel Some Practitioner Findings

u Reinforced importance of values-based work in citizen dialogue; provided the decision-making framework to consider technical choices

u Common ground achievable with attitudinally diverse citizens critical for political credibility

u Dual framing of energy and climate challenges created more space for dialogue

u Benefits of practitioner and researcher collaboration outweigh challenges

u Working Paper coming out soon (ABCD website)

Water in a Changing Climate

- A citizen deliberation that examined the intersections between water and climate change;

-Internal aim: reframe climate change in the context of water to round out Alberta Climate Change discussions (shift from energy and mitigation to water and adaptation; local focus)

Objectives

u To have an informed dialogue, including sharing hopes and concerns, about the future of the watershed;

u To identify the public values that resonate most on this issue, and where there is common ground;

u To identify key areas that warrant more community involvement and policy development, including recommendations for consideration by the Oldman Watershed Council.

Design challenges

u Short time frame (one day rather than multi-day deliberation);

u No existing policy question

to address climate change is not addressed by OWC;

u Very little direction / input

from sponsor organization; u Alternative framing of the

issue (ie. not mainstream)

Event description

One day event held at University of Lethbridge, Alberta on Saturday, February 22, 2014;

Informed dialogue: participants provided with background information (climate change and water; deliberative democracy Facilitated deliberation (5 facilitators and 1 lead facilitator)

33 invited participants - Diversity across gender, age, occupation,

geographical location

AGENDA

8:30 9:00 Arrival and registrations

9:00 9:45 Introductions & Ice breaker

9:45 10:30 Guest speaker: Regional climate change and water

10:45 12:15 Initial explorations mapping of concerns

12:15 1:00 Lunch

1:00 1:30 Presentation: Oldman Watershed Council

1:30 1:45 Overview of Deliberative Democracy

1:45 2:45 Exploring perspectives on key concerns

3:00 3:50 Developing best advice moving forward

3:50 4:30 Large plenary bringing it all together

4:30 5:00 Wrap up and conclusion

Findings/Learnings

u Demonstrated capacity to get to value based discussions in short time;

u Focus on delivering results within set

constraints led to some tokenistic conclusions (richness of earlier discussions not necessarily reflected in final recommendations);

u More time required to train facilitators (gap

between self-stated capacities and actual capacities to guide deliberative work).

Energy Efficiency Choices

u Developed in partnership with Alberta Energy Efficiency Alliance.

u Virtual deliberation (online, with option of telephone access). Each participant spent two hours in one of six available sessions.

u Recruitment by Probit; 164 participants.

u Facilitated plenary and small group discussions.

u Draft report and follow up survey shared with participant; final report to be released soon.

Research on Energy Efficiency Choices

u Participant surveys before and after, including issues of deliberative quality, trust in government, political efficacy.

u Focus groups and questionnaires on experience of volunteer facilitators, including around training and support.

u Linking participant surveys with questions in Alberta-wide population survey.

Questions/Discussion