Norway: asking citizens how a nation's wealth should serve the future

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What Norway did

Norway holds extraordinary national wealth, and with it a question that no government can answer alone: how should that wealth be used responsibly, for people alive today and for those not yet born? Between January and May 2025, seven civil society organisations convened the Citizens' Assembly for Norway's Future, bringing together 56 citizens from across the country. Over eight structured sessions, following OECD guidelines for deliberative processes, participants heard expert briefings, debated with one another and worked towards consensus on the ethical and environmental questions surrounding the nation's resources.

Photo by James Armes on Unsplash 

How it Delivered

The Assembly produced 19 broadly supported recommendations, each rooted in long-term societal value and fairness between generations. It sparked a national conversation about the ethical use of national wealth and global responsibility, and the convening organisations committed to carrying the recommendations forward through advocacy and public dissemination.

What Made it Work?

The design took ordinary citizens seriously and committed to a genuine deliberative process. Participants were given time, expert input and skilled facilitation, and were trusted to reach conclusions together. Because civil society initiated it, the Assembly could ask the big questions that electoral politics often avoids.

Future Generations Takeaway

When citizens are invited to think beyond their own lifetimes, they rise to it. Norway's Assembly showed that the public can deliberate wisely about wealth held in trust for the future. Keeping the future open starts with asking the people who will share it.

This case study is based on one kindly shared with us by the us by School of International Futures (SOIF) and can be found in their digital implementation handbook: 'One Year in Practice: Stories of Global Action for Future Generations'.  We have updated and expanded some case studies with more recent developments and additional sources where relevant.