Queenscliffe is one of the smallest local government areas in Australia, but in convening a public deliberation on climate change it has joined some major world players.
The UK, Scotland, Denmark, Germany and France have all convened citizens’ assemblies on how to tackle climate change.
In this article, we look at what citizens’ assemblies are and why they are used to address complex topics like climate change.
We have also provided the web links so that you can do a quick tour of the world. Most of these websites have a series of videos which you might find useful.
What are Citizens’ Assemblies?
Citizens’ assemblies are a form of public deliberation that are based on the principles of deliberative democracy. That is, a group of people who have been selected both randomly and to meet the demographics of the population come together to provide advice on a complex public policy issue.
Not only are they representative of the diversity of everyday people in the community, they are given a significant amount of information and time (4-5 days) so that they can come to an informed and considered set of recommendations to present to the convening authority.
Citizens’ assembly is a name commonly used in Europe for public deliberation and an assembly typically comprises about 100 people.
Citizens’ juries, peoples’ panel and community panels are all names given to public deliberations in Australia irrespective of size. This is simply a preference of the sponsoring organisation in naming their deliberations.
United Kingdom
The UK is committed to net zero emissions by 2050. Climate Assembly UK comprised 100 people who met over six weekends in 2020 to discuss how the UK should meet this target. Their report was published in September 2020 and a film is about to be released on the process.
https://www.climateassembly.uk/
Scotland
In Scotland the remit was ‘How should Scotland change to tackle the climate emergency in an effective and fair way?' The Assembly's Interim Report was laid in Scottish Parliament on the 24th March 2021, and the full report on the outcomes of members' deliberations is due in June this year.
https://www.climateassembly.scot/
Germany
Germany’s nationwide Citizens' Assembly on Climate Change started on 26 April 2021. The 160 members are discussing possible measures to deal with the climate crisis - specifically how Germany can still achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, taking into account social, economic and ecological aspects.
https://www.buergerrat.de/en/news/climate-assembly-in-germany/
Denmark Climate law
Denmark’s national citizens’ parliament of 99 randomly selected citizens were invited in August 2020 to work in depth on solutions to the climate challenges and give recommendations to the responsible parliamentary politicians.
https://tekno.dk/project/citizen-assembly-at/?lang=en
France
https://europeanclimate.org/a-tale-of-two-citizens-assemblies/
Washington State, USA
To find out more about what citizens in the Borough of Queenscliffe are doing to address climate change in their community, we encourage you to visit their website.
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