Our Mission
The environmental crisis can only be solved if we work together.
REAL DEAL is a community of Europeans who are taking action to build a new model of environmental citizenship for Europe; a model where Europeans are placed at the heart of the decision-making process, making a REAL DEAL for both people and the planet.
Why Now: our challenge
Europeans want to live in, and pass to future generations, a world with a cleaner environment, more affordable energy, smarter transport, sustainable jobs and a better quality of life.
To make it happen, we are counting on the European Green Deal, the most ambitious and broadest policy framework in the history of the European Union. The Green Deal promises to transform the EU into the first climate-neutral region of the world by 2050 and make a global leader in sustainability.
While the European Green Deal provides a unique political opportunity to confront the existential challenges facing humanity, more work needs to be done to increase Europeans’ trust and confidence in the European institutions if the Deal is to achieve its goals.
Time to take action
Following the highest voter turnout in the 2019 European elections in more than two decades, an increase in citizens’ awareness of their rights as Europeans, and a renewed interest in citizens’ assemblies and similar formats across the continent, the European Green Deal is the real test for building trust, legitimacy and transparency.
Now is the time for the European institutions to deploy innovative tools, formats and processes for citizens’ participation and deliberation in rule-making while mobilising and engaging people in a new and appealing narrative around the need for a sustainable Europe for all.
Europeans must play an active part in the solution
Europeans, who represent the needs and desires of everyday people, must be at the centre of the European Green Deal and the transformation it promises.
How we are going to achieve a REAL DEAL
Deliberative democracy
We want to make deliberative democracy a common feature in policy-making by partnering with experienced scientists and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines, from environmental rights to ecofeminism, and with Europe's largest civil society organisations.
Thinking globally and acting locally
We are taking action to make this new model of environmental citizenship a reality. By becoming better informed about deliberative democracy and influencing our decision-makers at all levels, local and European, we can make a real difference.
Building alliances
We are not doing it alone. We are engaging with civil society organisations, public institutions and stakeholders from all across Europe.
Preparing for the future
Our community will serve as the basis to create a Citizens’ Deliberation Academy for mutual learning and training for future generations.
Who is behind it
We will involve researchers and practitioners of deliberative democracy, as well as the Europe’s largest networks of civil society organisations active in the field of environment, climate, sustainable development, and local and European democracy. Find out more about them:
The REAL DEAL community is part of a wider effort to promote active participation of Europeans in the green and just transition.
Find out more about them:
