Prime Minister Xavier Bettel speaking at the "Klima-Biergerrot" kick-off event;
Saturday 29 January 2022 marked the official launch of Luxembourg's "Klima-Biergerrot" (citizens' climate council); the launch took the form of a public event broadcast live.
From the end of January until the beginning of July 2022, the citizens' climate council intends to bring together a representative sample of 100 people living or working in Luxembourg. During fifteen meetings over a period of nearly six months, the council members will have the task of expressing their views on Luxembourg's current commitment to the fight against climate change.
The specific question posed to the citizens' climate council is as follows: "Can and does Luxembourg want to go further in the fight against climate change? And if so, by what measures?"
In addition to the existing measures, the citizens' climate council will be able to draw up any other proposals in order to bring out new impetus in current climate policy. At the end of this process, these proposals will be presented and debated in the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg's Parliament). They are also likely to influence the next version of the national integrated energy and climate change plan (Plan national intégré en matière d'énergie et de climat - PNEC).
During Saturday's online conference, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel explained that the government was interested in learning the opinions of members of the public. He emphasised that climate action requires everyone, not just politicians but also the citizens of today and tomorrow. The Prime Minister added that it was a question of what kind of world we want to leave for future generations.
Whilst members of the new citizens' climate council can receive guidance from experts, it will be up to them to give their personal opinions and present their proposals; the government will not intervene in their discussions.
The Prime Minister's welcome speech was followed by a presentation by Andrew Ferrone, head of the meteorology service within the Ministry of Agriculture, Viticulture and Rural Development and Luxembourg's representative to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), on the link between climate change and meteorological phenomena.
Later, Carole Dieschbourg, Luxembourg's Minister of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development, and Claude Turmes, Minister for Energy and Spatial Planning, presented current European and national climate measures.
The kick-off event ended with a presentation of the citizens' climate council process by Patrick Azevedo, trainer and facilitator of Pétillances who also serves as chief facilitator of the council, and Tommy Klein, Client Service Director at TNS Ilres.
The online conference, which was open to the public, was followed by a session reserved for the 100 members of citizens' climate council, during which they learned about the process and organisational arrangements before starting their work in early February, as well as the good practices identified within the framework of the participatory process of Luxembourg in Transition, a consultative project launched by the Department of Spatial Planning of the Ministry of Energy and Spatial Planning.
Further information about the new citizens' climate council is available on the website: https://www.klima-biergerrot.lu/en/home.
