Category: CitizenCOP Australia

Every year, governments from around the world come together at COP to make decisions about climate and biodiversity.

These decisions matter to all of us.

They shape the policies, investments and priorities that affect our communities, our environment and our future. Yet the conversations can feel very far removed from everyday life — happening in international meeting rooms, behind technical language, accreditation systems and closed-door negotiations.

We believe they shouldn’t be.

That is why People For Nature created Citizen COP Australia: to bring the conversation back into communities and create more space for people to learn, question, connect and participate.

So, what is a Green Zone?

When you hear about COP, you will often hear about the Blue Zone and the Green Zone.

The Blue Zone is where the formal UN negotiations take place. It is where accredited country delegations, observers and other participants engage in the official COP process.

The Green Zone is different.

It is the public-facing space around COP — where civil society, community organisations, businesses, researchers, young people, artists and others can come together to share knowledge, discuss ideas and engage with the issues being considered at COP.

It is where the conversation can become more open, accessible and human.

But you shouldn’t have to fly across the world to be part of it.

What if the Green Zone came to us?

That is the idea behind Citizen COP.

Rather than creating one big event in one city, Citizen COP creates a decentralised Green Zone across Australia — made up of local conversations, workshops, walks, exhibitions, film screenings, community gatherings, youth events and other activities.

Citizen COP runs running alongside two important global moments:

🌿 The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), known informally as the Biodiversity Convention.

🌏 Conference of the Parties (COP), also known as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

As the global conversations happen, people across Australia can gather locally to understand what is happening, explore what it means for their communities, and consider what role they can play.

Why does this matter?

Because environmental decisions should not be something that happens to people.

People need opportunities to understand what is happening, ask questions, share knowledge and have a voice in the conversations shaping their future.

And participation shouldn’t depend on whether you can afford a flight, work for an accredited organisation or already know the language of climate and biodiversity policy.

You don’t need to be an expert.

You don’t need to belong to an environmental organisation.

You don’t need to travel overseas.

You just need to care enough to join the conversation.

Citizen COP is about creating that civic space.

A Green Zone in your community

A Citizen COP event can look almost anything like a community wants it to.

It might be:

• a workshop
• a conversation about local biodiversity
• a nature or cultural walk
• a film screening
• a school or youth-led event
• an exhibition or creative project
• a community meal
• a panel or public conversation
• a workshop on food, cities, climate resilience or the circular economy
• an online gathering

The point isn’t the format.

The point is creating space for people to participate.

Citizen COP is not one conference.

It is a national network of people creating their own spaces for participation.

No flights. No badges. No closed doors.

Citizen COP is designed around a few simple principles.

No flights — participate locally rather than travelling across the world.

No badges — you don’t need special credentials to be part of the conversation.

No closed doors — make environmental knowledge and discussion accessible.

No fossil fuel influence — protect the independence of the space.

And wherever possible, events are designed to be free, low-waste, vegetarian and based on shared knowledge rather than paid speakers.

Give nature a seat at the table

Ultimately, Citizen COP is about more than creating events.

It is about strengthening the civic space around climate and biodiversity.

Because democracy depends on people being able to understand the issues that affect them, participate in conversations about them and connect with others who care.

The formal COP process has an important role to play.

But the work of creating change cannot happen only inside conference centres.

It happens in neighbourhoods, schools, universities, workplaces, community halls, councils, gardens, streets and online spaces.

It happens when people start talking.

When they learn something new.

When they listen to another perspective.

When they organise.

When they act.

That is our vision for Citizen COP: a Green Zone that belongs to everyone, everywhere.

A shared effort

Explore the growing programme of Citizen COP events across Australia, support the growth of our national Green Zone, or get in touch to find out how you can be part of it.

View Citizen COP events →
Support Citizen COP →
Explore partnership opportunities →

For questions about Citizen COP, contact citizencop@peoplefornature.org.au

Warmly,
The Citizen COP Team

After attending AlterCOP 30 Australia, Angus joins us as an ambassador for Citizen COP 2026, bringing a grounded systems perspective on the energy transition and climate resilience.

A graduate engineer working in the renewable energy sector, Angus focuses on climate adaptation and resilience across energy systems. His experience spans Australia and the broader Indo-Pacific, where he has worked alongside intergovernmental organisations, communities, policymakers, and industry to better understand how energy transitions can be both equitable and resilient in a changing climate.

He is passionate about designing systems that not only support decarbonisation, but also strengthen communities and deliver lasting benefits for future generations. Angus is driven by the belief that the clean energy transition must be shaped through collaboration, and embedded with sustainability in both principle and practice.

He continues to explore how technology, policy, and community engagement can come together to build climate-resilient, human-centred energy futures.

A groundbreaking experiment in democracy

In 2019, France took a bold step to involve everyday people directly in shaping climate policy by establishing the Citizens’ Convention on Climate — La Convention Citoyenne pour le Climat. Rather than leaving climate decisions solely to politicians, this initiative brought together 150 randomly selected citizens from across the country to deliberate, learn, and propose real policy solutions.

Unlike a public petition or online survey, this was a deliberative democratic process: participants spent months in structured sessions, hearing from experts with different viewpoints, interrogating evidence, and working in small thematic groups on topics like housing, transport, food and consumption.

The aim was clear: identify a package of measures that would reduce France’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030 (compared with 1990 levels), ensuring the transition was fair and socially just.

The French president committed to take the proposals “without a filter” — meaning the government had to submit them either to a referendum, a parliamentary vote, or implement them directly. This was designed to give citizens’ recommendations real political weight.

What happened in practice?

Across a series of multi‑day sessions, these 150 citizens wrestled with complex policy issues. They didn’t need to be climate experts — their diversity of age, background, region and life experience was intentional. That diversity helped ensure recommendations reflected the realities and values of ordinary people.

In the end, they produced a set of 149 proposals, covering everything from modernising housing energy use to sustainability in transport, production and consumption. While not all were adopted, many found their way into law — notably in France’s Climate and Resilience Act of 2021 — and others shaped the public debate.

Five years on, reflections from participants reveal mixed feelings: there’s pride in meaningful engagement and understanding, but also frustration where political follow‑through fell short of expectations. Some advocates have continued their involvement in climate and civic life, while others felt disillusioned by the gap between public participation and political decision‑making.

Why this matters for Australia

Australia faces its own climate challenges — intense heat, drought, bushfires and rising emissions targets — yet public trust in traditional politics to deliver bold climate action isn’t always high. A citizens’ climate convention could offer a new way for Australians to co‑create solutions, grounded in lived experience rather than party platforms.

Here’s what Australia could gain from adopting a similar model:

✅ Deep engagement across society
Like France, Australia could randomly select representative citizens (ensuring voices from rural, urban, Indigenous and diverse socio‑economic backgrounds) to collaboratively tackle climate policy issues.

✅ Education + trust building
Participants would gain a grounded understanding of climate science and policy trade‑offs directly from experts — helping bridge the gulf between technical complexity and everyday life.

✅ Politically credible recommendations
By committing to take citizens’ proposals “without a filter” — whether through parliamentary debate, referendum or government action — Australian leaders could strengthen democratic legitimacy and public buy‑in for climate policy.

✅ A long‑term, participatory democratic culture
Rather than a one‑off consultation, this process could become a regular feature of Australian democracy — helping citizens shape not only climate policy but also other long‑term challenges requiring broad public consensus.

How it could work in Australia

A practical Australian version might look like this:

1. Selection: Recruit 150–200 citizens via a genuinely random and stratified process to ensure diversity across age, geography, gender, socioeconomic status and lived experience.
2. Deliberation: Over several months, participants would meet (both in person and virtually) with independent facilitators, climate scientists, economists, First Nations thinkers, industry voices, and community leaders.
3. Proposal development: Through structured small‑group work and plenary sessions, citizens would design practical policy options — and collaboratively assess their social and economic implications.
4. Political response: Federal or state governments would commit in advance to respond publicly, either by introducing legislation, holding a referendum on key measures, or including them in formal policy.
5. Public transparency: All sessions would be streamed, with documentation freely accessible so all Australians can follow the process and outcomes.

The benefits extend beyond climate policy: such a convention could strengthen civic engagement, improve public understanding of complex issues, and build shared ownership of Australia’s climate future.

Conclusion

France’s Citizens’ Climate Convention wasn’t perfect — and its outcomes faced political hurdles — but it marked a powerful moment of direct citizen participation in climate policymaking. For Australia, experimenting with such a model could deepen democratic participation, build trust, and unlock community‑driven solutions to one of our greatest collective challenges.

Sources and references:

https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/suivi-convention-citoyenne-climat/les-mesures-pour-le-climat

https://www.iea.org/policies/17787-citizens-climate-convention-in-france

https://propositions.conventioncitoyennepourleclimat.fr/

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2025/06/21/five-years-later-the-hangover-of-the-french-citizens-who-took-part-in-the-convention-for-the-climate_6742563_114.html