In the first of a series of posts to mark the Sixth International Conference on Learning Cities, which focuses on the role of learning cities in promoting climate action, Bjørn Bedsted, International Director at Democracy X, reflects on the potential of climate assemblies in facilitating a green transition

The gap between what needs to be done to live up to the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change adopted by 196 Parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) on 12 December 2015, and what is being done is growing. This gap leads to increased polarization between those calling for faster implementation of mitigation measures and those affected by and resisting such measures.

Climate assemblies offer a method of bridging that gap and moving forward by offering time and space for public deliberations on climate policies and actions, making them more robust, legitimate and implementable. The many climate assemblies organized over the past few years were inspired by the Irish ‘citizen assemblies’, a method used by the Irish Parliament and Government on several policy issues. So, a ‘climate assembly’ is a citizen assembly on climate policy issues.

Climate assemblies bring together a group of lay citizens (typically around 100), randomly selected to reflect the demographic diversity of their municipality or country (a so-called ‘mini-public’). They have been organized at local, national and global level. They are given a task (e.g. ‘What can we do to speed up the green transition in our municipality?’) and then guided through a process, typically over several weekends, facilitated by professional delivery organizations, in which they are presented with different types of knowledge (from academics and stakeholder organizations) and develop a set of recommendations to decision-makers. It is a deep learning process and experience shows that participating citizens take joint responsibility for finding solutions and compromises for the common good – of the planet and their own community.

Depending on the willingness and capability of the entity commissioning the climate assembly (typically a public authority), the recommendations will be considered and acted on by decision-makers.  The Knowledge Network of Climate Assemblies (KNOCA) offers extensive guidance on how to organize a climate assembly and learnings from the many assemblies that have already taken place.

Climate assemblies are, however, not a technical fix that a public administration can implement in isolation from their (governance) business as usual. They are democratic instruments that challenge policy-makers to think of themselves less as sole decision-makers and more as facilitators of co-decision making. It is the firm belief of proponents of climate assemblies and citizen participation in general that a shift to such a ‘deliberative democracy’ mindset is needed to bring about a just green transition. An increasing number of laws and policies are adopted but are often poorly designed and insufficiently and inefficiently implemented, pointing to a lack in capacity amongst public authorities to bring about change and do so in a way that is perceived as legitimate. At the same time, citizens’ expectations of having a say in decisions made is rising, pointing as well to the need for new, democratic spaces for more horizontal and less hierarchical decision-making.

Some policy-makers argue that democratic processes get in the way of the necessary fast implementation of climate measures and should be dismantled. I am convinced that this is a false opposition and that more, not less, (deliberative) democracy is the fastest and most effective road towards a green transition. It is, in other words, a prerequisite for, and not and obstacle to the transition. A climate assembly is one method and tool among many (see this ActionCatalogue for others) to help implement a deliberative democratic culture, but it will not work without a change of mindset as well.

Bjørn Bedsted is International Director at Democracy X, an organization working for advancing democratic innovation and decision-making.