Roles

Core team

Expert Leads

The Expert Leads ensured that Climate Assembly UK was:

• Balanced, accurate and comprehensive in terms of its content on climate change;
• Focussed on the key decisions facing the UK about how to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

They worked closely with Involve (see below) on the design of the assembly and played a key role at the assembly weekends. They are specialists in researching different approaches to tackling climate change. The Expert Leads are:

• Chris Stark, Chief Executive of the Committee of Climate Change;
• Jim Watson, Professor of Energy Policy, University College London and Director of the UK Energy Research Centre;
• Lorraine Whitmarsh, Professor of Environmental Psychology, University of Bath, and Director of the UK Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations;
• Rebecca Willis, Professor in Practice, University of Lancaster.

Involve

The Involve Foundation (‘Involve’) was responsible for ensuring that Climate Assembly UK was a high quality citizens’ assembly. Involve is the UK’s leading public participation charity, with a mission to see people at the heart of decision-making. Involve worked closely with the Expert Leads on the assembly’s design, focussing on areas such as the assembly’s structure, timings and accessibility.

Involve was also responsible for recruiting and leading the facilitation team for the assembly, and for managing the project overall. It was the main point of contact for assembly members. www.involve.org.uk

Sortition Foundation

The Sortition Foundation was responsible for recruiting a representative group of people to take part in Climate Assembly UK. It is a not-for-profit company that promotes the use of randomly selected groups of people in decision-making. www.sortitionfoundation.org

mySociety

mySociety created Climate Assembly UK’s branding and website. It is a not-for-profit social enterprise that provides technology, research and data that help people to be active citizens. www.mysociety.org

Parliament

Climate Assembly UK was called by six select committees of the House of Commons. Staff from the House of Commons and the Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology, who specialise in producing balanced information, oversaw, and signed off, all work on the assembly on behalf of these committees.

External input

Citizens assemblies rely on a broad range of views to ensure that the process is balanced, accurate and comprehensive. The Expert Leads and Involve were supported on the design and content of Climate Assembly UK by two panels.

Advisory Panel

The Advisory Panel provided feedback on key aspects of the assembly’s design, including:

• Who was invited to give evidence and what they are asked to cover;
• The questions on which assembly members were asked to give their views;
• The written briefings created for assembly members.

The panel supported the Expert Leads in ensuring that Climate Assembly UK is balanced, accurate and comprehensive in terms of its content on climate change. See the full list of Advisory Panel members.

Academic Panel

The Academic Panel reviewed the written briefings created for assembly members to support the Expert Leads in ensuring they were balanced, accurate and comprehensive. Its members were also asked for additional advice by the Expert Leads. Academic Panel members are researchers specialising in various approaches to tackling climate change. See the full list of Academic Panel members.

Funders

Climate Assembly UK is funded by the House of Commons, with additional funding from two philanthropic organisations: the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the European Climate Foundation. The two organisations providing additional funding did not have a say over how the assembly was run or what it covered.

Communications

The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit supported the communication outreach around Climate Assembly UK weekends and results