Citizen deliberation in Net Zero governance: learning lessons and looking forward

Since 2019, public and third-sector bodies across the UK have been experimenting with citizens’ juries and assemblies in the context of net-zero governance—collectively referred to in this essay as ‘climate assemblies’. These assemblies bring together a representative sample of citizens to learn about and discuss policy issues, prior to making recommendations for action. With the UK off track to meet it’s 2030 climate targets, advocates hope these fora can drive policy on net zero that is both ambitious and garners public support. This essay draws on social science evidence to appraises the recent wave of climate assemblies against four often-cited objectives for such processes: providing knowledge to policymakers about public preferences and lived experiences; encouraging policy action by demonstrating a public mandate; improving public trust in leaders and governance institutions; and providing a mechanism for oversight and accountability. We show that the first of these objectives has largely been met. Climate assemblies have also succeeded in demonstrating a mandate in terms of proposals being consistently ahead of existing policy, although there are no clear cases of climate assemblies increasing policy ambition. Climate assemblies can help build trust amongst those taking part, but this dissipates if the commissioning body is not subsequently seen to act. Climate assemblies are not widely known about amongst the wider population, and there is a lack of evidence on how they impact trust perceptions amongst those who do hear of them. Finally, there are very few examples of assemblies being tasked with an oversight or accountability role, an area we suggest could benefit from further experimentation. We conclude with a series of recommendations for further embedding climate juries within net-zero governance, aimed at improving their ability to contribute to the net-zero transition. This article is published in the thematic collection ‘The critical role of governance for decarbonisation at pace: learning the lessons from SHAPE research’, edited by Sarah Birch, Hilary Graham, Andrew Jordan, Tim O’Riordan, Henry Richards.