THE DECADE OF CITIZEN SCIENCE (CS) IS HERE
BE PART OF A EUROPEAN CS PROGRAMME TO TACKLE CARBON POLLUTION
Project AURORA has piloted its citizen science approach in 5 European Countries, through the Universities of Évora (Portugal), Aarhus (Denmark), UPM (Madrid Spain), and Ljubljana (Slovenia) along with the Municipality of the Forest of Dean (United Kingdom). We have shown it is possible to motivate students, staff and citizens to take part in programmes to reduce their own carbon pollution and to take ownership of the energy transition. Citizens can do more than protest about the lack of action on climate change, they can own the problem and make a major contribution to tackling the 30% of carbon pollution they cause from the way they heat and power their homes and the transport decisions they take.
The programme has proved it is possible to create energy communities from social communities. These communities can work with Energy Co-operatives, Non- Government Organisations, Municipal Administrators of our towns and cities and the organisations that run our Higher Education establishments. We have shown University based Energy Communities can organise, fund, build and operate solar schemes that support the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Project AURORA has proved such schemes lower energy bills, give a solid rate of return for investors, allow everyone to take part and have the power to leave no one behind.
Project AURORA has developed the tools to measure and record the personal carbon pollution each of its participants creates and to show people that it is possible to reduce those pollutants and in the process divert what would have been profits to the fossil fuel industry back into their communities. The AURORA Energy Tracker App and the AURORA Carbon Energy labelling scheme are powerful open source tools that can be used by anyone across Europe. Link them to community energy schemes and real offset schemes can further advance the journey to net zero carbon for the citizens that live in our major towns and cities.
Putting Universities as leaders in this energy transition makes sense. Linking research to action, training the next generation of climate change leaders and demonstrating that everyone can benefit are powerful drivers of change. Citizens do not have to stand by whilst storms, fires, droughts and changing seasons wreck their lives. Positive actions to accelerate the journey to net zero, reduce energy cost, improve living standards and leave no one behind are possible.
But 5 pilots is not enough. Project AURORA is now set to stimulate the development of a European wide debate on the citizen science techniques that can be used in every country, every city, every town, every village in Europe to reduce carbon pollution. All the tools and techniques developed by the project are available as open source methods that can be further developed and shared by the growing citizen science community across Europe. The project plans to call an online workshop during April -May 2025, at which we will invite the leaders of citizen science projects seeking to reduce carbon pollution. The aim of the workshop will be to agree:
- common methods for citizens to use to reduce their personal carbon emissions;
- common tools that will support that process; and
- data gathering and validation systems that will prove our progress.
The workshop will aim to establish a Working Group to champion these ideas and to promote them with EU Leaders, and senior EU policy makers including representatives of the EU Parliament. The working group will aim to present its ideas at COP30 Belém Brazil with the support of the United Nations Science Policy Business Forum (UNSPBF) .
Project AURORA has already begun discussions with a range of European organisations that can champion this approach and already has the in principle support of key leaders in the global citizen science community who have agreed to be ambassadors for the AURORA project and to promote this idea.
If you want to take part in the proposed workshop or volunteer to become an Ambassador for the AURORA project to promote the idea of an EU-wide citizen science project on climate change mitigation , please e-mail info@aurora-h2020.eu clearly indicating your interest in an EU Citizen Science Programme on Climate Change Mitigation.
