As the world prepares for COP30 in Belém, connecting climate action with people’s lived realities has never been more urgent. Traditional governance models – centered on top-down coordination and expert-driven frameworks – and current styles of politics favour evidence-based controlling of global warming, and its impacts on ecosystems resilience, more than incentivize a social (citizens-based) proactive caring for ecosystems flourishing and nature regenerative capacities: there is the need to shift to a more balanced approach for ecosystems resilience to climate change and flourishing — a paradigm that increases agency, embraces diverse perspectives, and builds large-scale cultural, political, and social movements
The COP30 side-event “Bridging Scientists & Citizens for Climate Action” will take place on 21 November 2025 at 15:00 CET / 11:00 Brazil time in hybrid format. It is organised by the Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association (EMEA) under the Mediterranean Alliance, in the framework of COP30, together with ISINNOVA, and in collaboration with partners from the EU co-funded projects DIAMOND, C4LA and CROSS-REIS.
This event offers a unique contribution to the COP30 agenda by addressing one of the most persistent challenges in climate governance: the disconnect between scientific expertise, policy frameworks and community-led action. By bringing citizens’ assemblies, living labs and climate modelling into one coordinated approach, the session highlights a practical pathway to strengthen democratic legitimacy, accelerate local innovation and ensure that climate solutions are socially grounded, ethically informed and aligned with COP30’s Granary of Solutions agenda.
This online side-event will examine how citizens’ assemblies, living labs and climate science can work together to strengthen inclusive climate governance. Drawing on experiences from citizens’ assemblies in Italy (Milan and Bologna), the GloCAN global network and Mediterranean Living Lab initiatives, the session will highlight how citizen deliberation can be meaningfully connected to scientific modelling, local action and policy design.
The discussion will explore:
- How citizens’ assemblies can inform climate action across governance levelsThe role of Living Labs in translating community priorities into climate solutions
- How climate modelling and ethical foresight can empower citizen deliberation
- Lessons from Italian, Mediterranean and global experiences
- Pathways for connecting citizen recommendations to real policy implementation (“the docking challenge”
This event aims to strengthen the bridge between science, citizens and decision-makers, ensuring that communities become active partners in shaping and accelerating climate solutions in line with COP30’s broader transformation agenda.