Citizen Panels on Climate Targets: Ecological Impact at Individual Level

There is hardly any valid empirical evidence on whether citizen participation has an impact on the desired objectives. This chapter provides an answer to this question, taking as example seven citizen panels on local climate targets in Austria, Germany, and Spain within the e2democracy (e2d) research project. The citizen panels were part of collaborative (e-)participation processes of citizens and businesses with local governments aimed at reducing carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) by at least 2 % per annum over a period of up to 2 years. After the first year, the majority of panelists in the five Austro-German panels achieved or surpassed the target; in both Spanish panels, less than half did so; after the second year, the percentages of target achievers somewhat declined. So, even though many participants achieved their reduction target, a considerable number of participants did not reach it or reduced their efforts in the second year. Across all seven panels, savings could particularly be achieved in the heating energy and electricity sections. In the fields of nutrition and consumer goods, there were even cases where emissions increased. For the mobility fields of private and public transportation as well as flights, no homogeneous tendencies could be observed among the panels. Overall, even though the size of countable CO2e reductions was not that high, citizen panels were particularly successful in achieving a reconsideration of the panelists’ lifestyles and habits and, to some extent, encouraged effective change processes.