What is a Climate Assembly?

“People’s Assemblies” (aka Citizens’ Assembly, using “citizen” generically) gather a randomly selected, representative sample of people to answer a question or solve a problem facing their community. People come together to learn about the issue from experts, interested parties, and each other, and then explore possible solutions.

Participants are chosen to reflect the diversity of their community, in terms of criteria such as age, race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and geographic distribution.  Characterized by representative participation, informed and open-minded discussion, and thoughtful deliberation work, Assemblies are uniquely capable of fairly considering and addressing a community’s interests and concerns and arriving at mutually acceptable solutions. This form of decision making is known as deliberative democracy, with roots in ancient Athenian democratic processes and various Indigenous decision-making practices.

How has deliberative democracy been used before in the United States?

The use of deliberative democracy in public forums in the United States dates from the 1970s, when the Jefferson Center developed the concept of Citizens' juries.  Oregon uses a Citizens’ Initiative Review process to bring randomly selected and representative panels of voters together to evaluate ballot measures and give voters trustworthy information.  Deliberative polling techniques have been used to understand what conclusions the public might reach about a topic if they had the opportunity to become fully informed and engaged.  Citizens’ Assemblies are yet another deliberative democracy tool, now being used all over the world, as described below.

Can assemblies really solve political problems?

Yes!  Across the world, on all types of issues, assemblies have a proven track record of both bridging divides and enabling change that reflects the will of the people, 

• Randomly-selected Texans shaped the state’s energy future in the mid-1990s.

• The 2004 British Columbia Citizens' Assembly on electoral reform crafted a new electoral process.

• The Irish Constitutional Convention, and its successor the Irish Citizens' Assembly, paved the way to historic referenda on some of Ireland’s most polarizing questions and made recommendations to address climate change.

• Citizens' Assemblies in Gdansk, Poland, have made sweeping changes in city policy on flood mitigation, air pollution, civic engagement and the treatment of LGBT people.

Recently-completedand ongoing Climate Assemblies in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Spain and elsewhere demonstrate the ability of groups of ordinary people to develop just, effective, and popularly-accepted climate policy.