Image: courtesy of Climate Assembly UK. CC BY 4.0.
Alongside climate summits dominated by world leaders, politicians and experts, we are also seeing the rise of Climate Assemblies — a new form of discussion, led by citizens. Climate Assemblies offer a response to the climate emergency by bringing public wisdom into political decision-making. They are a specific example of Citizens’ Assemblies which aim to bring everyday voices into the discussion of how to tackle difficult problems on various social issues that have often reached a political deadlock.
Although the shape and form of Climate Assemblies vary, they all carry the common structure of bringing a representative group of randomly selected citizens to learn, deliberate and arrive at recommendations about a specific burning topic.
Climate Assemblies reshape current democratic systems by ensuring that voices typically underrepresented in decision-making are in fact heard. When designed creatively, Climate Assemblies can provide a platform for collectively imagining and creating desired futures. They provide an opportunity to step away from polarized political debate, provide public support for ambitious policies, and enhance participation and behaviour change. Evidence shows that such participatory mechanisms result in considered judgments and recommendations.
Since, there have been National Climate Assemblies in many places across Europe including the UK, Scotland, France, Denmark, Finland and Germany. Local Climate Assemblies have been even more prominent, with over 15 assemblies throughout the UK in various places such as Camden, Oxford, and Leeds.
Local and regional assemblies may form a better working ground for empowering these bodies to receive stronger decision-making mandates, since in smaller-scaled contexts the path towards implementation is more direct. For example, in the Climate Assembly in Gdansk, Poland, final recommendations supported by at least 80% of assembly members were adopted by the Mayor – resulting in a faster response to severe flooding.
Currently, Climate Assemblies are not fully integrated into political processes. Binding Climate Assemblies are still considered radical in most political environments, and political cherry-picking of recommendations is very common. To tackle these issues and better understand how climate assemblies can be integrated into democratic systems, the Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies (KNOCA) was established to study the design and impact of climate assemblies with the aim of enabling them to become a prominent part of the democratic landscape.
The video below provides a short animated description of Climate Assemblies.
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For more on the evolving practice of climate assemblies, see the work of the Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies.
