Citizens Climate Lobby, educating citizens to advocate for an effective climate solution

Citizens’ Climate Lobby is an international organization educating citizens and their political representatives on a solution that could on its own reach 80% of the Paris COP21 objectives. The beauty of this solution is that, although Climate Change is complex and thousands of solutions, regulations, fundings are already implemented, it is a unique and simple solution that would be much more effective and could complement existing ones in driving the change we need. However, this solution is new to most citizens and politicians and needs to be explained to citizens’s volunteering for climate action, policy developers and politicians.

The focus on Carbon Pricing is based on the international economic and scientific consensus as the highest priority primary legislation to address climate change. The need to redistribute the revenues in the form of dividend or climate income is driven both by effectiveness and acceptability and has been enhanced by the Yellow Vest experience in France and the Covid 19 impact. 

Between 2014 and 2020 national teams within the EU have educated and lobbied to build political will with national governments in favour of Carbon Pricing as the most effective climate policy. In the last two years CCL began to work at the European level developing strategy to build political will for the essential support from the European Parliament to support and encourage consistent Carbon Pricing both inside the EU and Internationally. 

Starting with mutual respect and appreciation, more than 500 groups in more than 50 countries engage society in its widest sense. “We seek to educate, build partnerships with and gain the support of community leaders and non-governmental organizations, both nationally and locally.” In Europe CCL has active groups lobbying in Germany; France; Sweden; UK; Denmark; Norway; Spain; Poland & Portugal. In the EU Parliament lobby experience is positive across a range of party groups with positive responses. This competency is currently being scaled up to build political will within the European Parliament.

CCL France, CC Europe and CCE  trains individuals to engage in climate communication on a human level, learning about the concerns, beliefs, and values of the people they seek to educate about the benefits of climate action. This training relies on techniques that include developing effective listening skills, motivational interviewing, and practicing conversational scenarios. 

In this presentation, we will explain and study 

- how CCL is building consensus across the political spectrum: from the market based solution promoted to conservatives to the progressive and efficient solution promoted to social democrats, from “carbon fee and dividend” to “climate income”

- the motivational interviewing used with politicians to build long term relationships and drive change.

- the challenges to explain the solution, from citizens not familiar with carbon footprint nor economic externalities, to policy developers at the EU commission dealing with the Emission Trading System, the energy taxation directive or the border carbon adjustment