Policy Recommendations from World Wide Views Canada La

Citizen Perspectives on Climate
Change: Policy Recommendations
from World Wide Views Canada
La perspective des citoyens sur le
changement climatique:
Recommandations politiques de World
Wide Views Canada

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On the weekend of September 25 - 27, 2009 in
Calgary, Alberta, 103 Canadians took part in an
unprecedented global citizen deliberation called World
Wide Views on Global Warming (WWViews).
Organized by the Danish Board of Technology, World
Wide Views on Global Warming provided a forum for
citizens to express opinions on global climate policy.
More than 4000 citizens from 38 countries convened
on September 26 to make recommendations to policy
makers on key issues central to the United Nations
climate change negotiations to be held in Copenhagen
in December 2009. This report summarizes the most
signicant ndings from the Canadian deliberations.
The key policy recommendations of the
Canadian participants are:
Urgency: International negotiators need to give a
high priority to coming to consensus on a climate deal
in Copenhagen. Many participants also want Canada
to take a leadership role in climate negotiations, and
feel that technology will play a key role in meeting
emission reduction targets.
Emission targets: Wealthy countries should commit
to 2020 emission reduction targets of 25-40% or
more compared to 1990 emission levels. This is a
stronger target than currently being supported by
the Canadian government, which suggests a 3%
reduction by 2020 compared with 1990 levels.
Aid to developing countries: Participants support
the creation of a global nancial system to generate
funds to aid developing countries to mitigate
and adapt to climate change. Rapidly developing
economies such as China and India are expected to
contribute to emission reductions whereas the least
developed countries are not.
Participants also provided recommendations
in their own words. The top three
recommendations are:
(1) Global consensus is needed on action for
proactive environmental change with specic,
measurable, achievable, realistic, time-specic
goals and the equitable utilization of technological
and economic resources, reinforced with systems of
accountability.
(2) Establish an international body with the capacity
and authority to enforce compliance with mutually
agreed upon targets and mechanisms to reduce the
human impact on climate change.
(3) Annex 1 countries are encouraged to show
leadership through attainable, sustainable action
designed to reduce emissions and invest in
progressive market-driven technology and assist
developing countries to do the same.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3 Executive Summary
4 Introduction
7 Policy Recommendations
17 Disseminating the Results
38 Appendices
TABLE DES MATIÈRES
21 Résumé
22 Introduction
25 Recommandations politiques
35 Propager les résultats
38 Appendice
WorldWideVieWs
Citizen Perspectives on Climate Change: Policy Recommendations 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION
Climate change is the most pressing environmental
issue of our time. The outcome of the current United
Nations negotiations on climate policy will set the
course for dealing with climate change for many
years to come.
Although citizens live with the consequences of
global climate policy, few opportunities exist for
citizens to provide input into these policies outside
of traditional channels such as elected political
representatives. World Wide Views on Global
Warming (WWViews) sets a groundbreaking
precedent by establishing a model for public
deliberation on climate policy on a global scale.
The objective of World Wide Views is to reduce
the gap between citizens and policymakers by
providing a forum to learn about and discuss climate
policy issues, and provide recommendations to
policymakers participating in the COP15 climate
negotiations taking place in Copenhagen in
December 2009.
On September 26, 2009, more than 4400 people
from 38 countries participated in WWViews.
Approximately 100 citizens in each country took part
in the same deliberation and voting process, with
the results being uploaded in real-time to the project
website and available for all to view (see wwviews.
org).
103 Canadians took part in the consultation in
Calgary, Alberta. This report summarizes the most
signicant policy recommendations from WWViews
Canada. The main audiences for the report are
policymakers at the federal and provincial level
in Canada, along with other stakeholder groups
involved in climate change issues, the citizens
themselves, and their local communities.
ABOUT WORLD WIDE VIEWS
The global World Wide Views project was organized
by the Danish Board of Technology (DBT) and the
Danish Cultural Institute. The DBT has a long history
of involving citizens in political decision-making
and has done so on both a national and European
scale. The DBT oversaw the design of the WWViews
consultation process, endeavouring to overcome a
number of challenges to doing a global consultation:
• Affordable and easy: It had to make it possible for
potentially all countries in the world to participate,
regardless of nancial income and general
education level.
• Clear link to policymaking: It had to address
issues of immediate relevance to policymakers.
• Both global and national: It had to encourage
involvement in both national and global decision
making.
• Clear and trustworthy results: Results had to be
comparable across countries and regions and they
had to be easy to communicate to policymakers.
• Informed citizens: Citizens had to be provided
with a minimum background for understanding
the issues debated.
• Deliberation: Citizens should be given the
opportunity to discuss their views with each other
before dening their own standpoints.
On this basis, it was decided to have large groups
of citizens (roughly 100) meet in each of their
respective countries or regions to deliberate on an
identical set of questions, using identical meeting
designs, and then connect these meetings and their
results through web technology.
In Canada, citizens were randomly selected to
reect the demographic diversity of the population,
primarily through gender, age, income, education,
region and ethnicity. Letters of invitation were sent
to 3,000 adult Canadians, based on a list of 5,000
names purchased from a national research rm.
Anyone responding to the letter who was already
involved in climate policy as an expert or stakeholder
was excluded, as the goal was to include voices
that don’t already have venues for expressing their
views. Canadian organizers opened up a number
of seats specically for Aboriginal participants and
participants from the North, as they are already
experiencing the impacts of climate change.
Participants were not required to have knowledge
of climate change or climate policy, and were sent
extensive background information in advance of the
deliberations. On consultation day, deliberations were
organized around the following thematic areas:
• Climate change and its consequences
• Long-term goals and urgency
• Dealing with greenhouse gas emissions
• The economy of technology and adaptation
Each theme was introduced by a video, followed by
small group discussions of six to eight participants
led by a facilitator. Participants then voted on
a series of multiple-choice questions. Each
participating country followed the same format
and voted on the same questions, which were
uploaded in real-time to the project website. It was
thus possible to follow the results of participating
countries as each one moved through every major
theme discussion. The consultation culminated in a
recommendation session that allowed participants to
provide, in their own words, key recommendations
for policy negotiators attending the COP15 meeting.
CANADIAN ADDITION
WWViews Canada organizers made one major
addition to the consultation process that was not
taken up in any other country. Participants were
introduced to the federal government’s policy stance
approaching Copenhagen through a discussion of
four principles (as outlined by Environment Minister
Jim Prentice in a speech given to the C.D. Howe
institute in June 2009). Participants were asked to
reect on each of the principles, vote on a set of
structured questions, and then had the opportunity
to outline their individual opinions on what the
federal government’s key policy principle should be.
4 World Wide Views Canada Citizen Perspectives on Climate Change: Policy Recommendations 5
INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
The Canadian participants made recommendations
for two distinct groups of policymakers. First,
along with all other countries participating in
WWViews, they made recommendations aimed at
all international negotiators taking part in the UN
climate change negotiation process. Second, and
unique to the Canadian process, participants were
asked to make recommendations for national-level
policymakers. This section is organized according to
these two groups.
RECOMMENDATIONS TO
INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATORS
The WWViews consultation was consciously
organized around the same issues that international
negotiators will be discussing at COP15 in
Copenhagen. Worldwide, participants addressed
topics such as: the urgency of reaching a global
deal, setting emission reduction goals for developed
and developing nations; and nancing adaptation
and technology development. After discussion and
deliberation on these topics, participants voted on
a series of multiple-choice questions. As well, they
created specic recommendations for international
negotiators in their own words. What follows is a
summary of the most signicant recommendations.
RECOMMENDATION:
A GLOBAL DEAL IS URGENT
One of the commonalities among all countries
involved in WWViews is the expressed urgency of
coming to a global deal at COP15.
More than 90% of the citizens involved
worldwide say it is urgent to make a deal
in Copenhagen. In Canada, 89% share
this view.
Furthermore, nine in ten Canadian participants urge
the Canadian government to give high priority to
joining a global deal. See Figure 1 for a comparison
of Canadian views compared with the rest of the
world.
Canadian participants were less certain about what
the long-term limit on global temperature increases
should be. Four in ten Canadians agree that the
long-term goal should be to limit temperature
increases to no more than 2°C, echoing the
recommendations of the International Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC). However, 22% indicate
they are unsure about what targets to recommend,
and 10% suggest an increase greater than 2°C was
acceptable or that no limit was necessary.
RECOMMENDATION SUMMARY: A number of strong policy recommendations emerged from the
WWViews Canada citizen engagement process. Canadians express a strong sense of urgency for
international negotiators to make a deal in Copenhagen, and place a high priority on Canada joining the
global deal. Speaking directly to Canadian policymakers, our participants do not place the condition of U.S.
or high-emitting developing nation participation in order for the Canadian government to become part of
a global deal. Instead, there is a general desire for the Canadian government to be a leader in dealing
with climate change issues, with the majority expressing the opinion that dealing with the environmental
impacts now will result in economic benets down the road. A majority advocates stronger emission
reduction targets and view technology as a key component of meeting those targets.
Citizen Perspectives on Climate Change: Policy Recommendations 7
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

How urgent do you think it is to make a global climate deal?
If a new climate deal is made at COP15, should the politicians in your country
give high priority to joining it?
RECOMMENDATION: WEALTHY COUNTRIES
SHOULD TAKE A STRONG LEAD
What should be the role of developed countries and
developing countries in reducing greenhouse gas
emissions? Should wealthy countries like Canada
commit to higher emission reduction targets?
What targets should be imposed on fast growing
economies with high emissions like India, China or
Brazil? What about poorer countries?
Approximately half of Canadian
participants suggest that wealthy
countries like Canada should, in the short
term, aim for reductions between 25 and
40%, based on a 1990 base level year.
This is the level at which emissions could peak short
term and then start going down in the longer term,
and it corresponds to the target recommended by
the IPCC as well as the target set out in Canada’s
Bill C-311, the Climate Change Accountability Act,
currently awaiting third reading in the House of
Commons. The IPCC suggests this reduction level
will keep future temperature increases to no more
than 2°C. Another quarter recommended reduction
levels higher than 40%. These results mirror what is
seen worldwide through the WWViews consultations
in other countries.
Canada differs from the worldwide results with
respect to fast growing developing countries such as
India, China, and Brazil.
Canadian participants are more likely to
support the principle that these countries
ought to assume a similar level of
responsibility for emission reductions as
wealthy countries, with 44% expressing
this position, contrasting with 27%
internationally.
When broken down by income level, high-, middle-,
and low-income countries show more participants
preferring to give rapidly developing economies a
break in contrast to Canada (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Short-term Emission Reduction Targets for Rapidly Developing Economies
Figure 1: Urgency and Priority for a Global Deal
89%
3%0% 4%4%
91%
6%1% 1%2%
Canada
Canada
World
World
Canada
High-Income
Countries
Middle-Income
Countries
Low-Income
Countries
Don't know
No
Yes
91%
5%4%
90%
6%4%
44%
37% 10%5%4%
28%
50%
19% 1%2%
25%
44%
28% 1%2%
26%
47%
22% 2%3%
Don't know / Do not wish to answer
I do not want a global deal
A deal can wait until serious effects of climate change occur
It is important, but it can wait a few years
It is urgent, and a deal should be made at COP15
Don't know / Do not wish to answer
I do not want a global deal
A deal can wait until serious effects of climate change occur
It is important, but it can wait a few years
It is urgent, and a deal should be made at COP15
Don’t know / do not wish to answer
They should not be committed to control their emissions in any way
Their growth in emissions should be somewhat limited and increasingly so the richer they are and the more they emit
Their emissions should be somewhat reduced and increasingly so the richer they are and the more they emit
The same targets as for Annex 1 countries
8 World Wide Views Canada Citizen Perspectives on Climate Change: Policy Recommendations 9
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS