On November 21, 2025, DIAMOND and our partner ISINNOVA, along with the Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association (EMEA) and other EU-funded projects, co-organised an online side-event at the COP30 Mediterranean Pavilion to bring together scientists and citizens involved in climate action. The webinar’s focus targeted the transformation of climate governance from centralised, top-down to more democratic, participatory approaches that include citizen voices alongside scientific expertise.
The event provided an opportunity to connect DIAMOND activities with viewpoints from Milan and Bologna citizens assemblies, as well as the Global Citizens Assembly network, with research from the EU-funded projects C4LA (Community for Living Areas) and CROSSREIS.
Notably, drawing from climate governance approaches that face challenges and a lack of mechanisms to translate citizen recommendations into implementation, the participants inter alia talked about the docking problem, defined as the critical gap between citizen deliberations and concrete policy action.
Before and during the session, a paradigm shift was proposed as a policy action forward that moves towards caring for a resilient climate. The discussants demonstrated how different layers of action interconnect at the micro, meso, and macro level, as well as highlighted implementation gaps and success factors when co-designing climate action and training.
The event highlighted that for global climate decisions to be truly effective, they must be grounded in both robust scientific evidence and plurality of perspectives.
A recording of the webinar can be accessed here.
