About Climate Assembly UK
Previous section: Executive summary
(Contents)
In June 2019, the UK Government and Parliament agreed that the UK should do more to tackle climate change. They passed a law committing the UK to reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The target means that by 2050 the UK will have to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases it produces to a much lower level than today, and balance its remaining emissions by removing the same amount from the atmosphere. Decisions about how the target is reached will affect many aspects of people's lives.
It is against this backdrop that six select committees1 of the House of Commons decided to commission Climate Assembly UK2 – the first UK-wide citizens' assembly on climate change. The committees asked the assembly to examine the question:
Notes ():
1: The six commissioning select committees were: Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; Environmental Audit; Housing, Communities and Local Government; Science and Technology; Transport; and Treasury.
2: The committees announced their plans for the assembly on 20 June 2019.
"How should the UK meet its target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050?"
The committees aim to use the assembly's results to inform their work in scrunitising government.
Climate Assembly UK has 108 members, who together are representative of the UK population in terms of both demographics and their level of concern about climate change (please see Section A below). They met as an assembly over six weekends between the end of January and the middle of May 2020. This report presents their recommendations – assembly members' detailed and considered views on the path to net zero.
Governments and parliaments around the world are increasingly using citizens' assemblies in their work. The assemblies enable decision-makers to understand people's informed and considered preferences on issues that are complex, controversial, moral or constitutional. The UK Parliament commissioned its first citizens' assembly, the Citizens' Assembly on Social Care, in 2018.
Citizens' assemblies have a number of key features including:3
Notes ():
3: For a broader discussion on citizens' assembly features and standards in a UK context please see https://www.involve.org.uk/resources/blog/news/when-citizens-assembly-not-citizens-assembly-towards-some-standards .
- Who takes part: assembly members are representative of the wider population;
- The assembly process: assembly members go through a three stage process of learning, discussion, and decision-making;
- The information provided: the evidence presented to assembly members during the learning phase is balanced, accurate and comprehensive;
- Independent facilitation: the assembly is not facilitated by the organisation that commissioned the assembly.
This chapter looks at how Climate Assembly UK worked across each of these areas. It also includes a brief introduction to how the assembly's results are presented in the rest of this report.
"I felt like I'd won the lottery when I got the letter. I'd be daft not to do it – it's amazing to get the chance to have a say and influence what may happen in the future. I was in the army for 22 years so I've not got a problem meeting new people and learning new things, I'm really looking forward to it. I hope Britain can take a leading role with making the changes we need to secure our future."
Assembly Member – Marc, 46, from Newcastle
Climate Assembly UK's members come from all walks of life, and all across the UK – from Belfast to Bolton. They include parents, grandparents, and people without children; health workers, engineers, and full-time carers. At the time we first heard from them, the oldest was 79 years old; the youngest 16. None of them had ever met before.
Together they are representative of the UK population in terms of:
- Age;
- Gender;
- Ethnicity;
- Educational level;
- Where in the UK they live;
- Whether they live in an urban or a rural area;
- Their level of concern about climate change.
Above : Sir David Attenborough addresses Climate Assembly UK.4
Notes ():
4: Sir David did not give evidence to the assembly, instead he came to meet assembly members before dinner at the first assembly weekend. He thanked assembly members for giving up their time to be part of the assembly, and took questions about his life and work – but not about his views on the path to net zero.
The Sortition Foundation5 recruited assembly members using a process known as 'sortition' or a 'civic lottery.' Sortition is recognised internationally as the gold standard method for recruiting citizens' assembly members.
Notes ():
5: Please see Section D below.
"I am grateful to the 110 people from all corners of the United Kingdom who are giving up their weekends to take part in this very important discussion of how we in the UK reach our net zero emissions target. These people have been picked to represent our population as a whole, they come from all walks of life, and together they will deliberate carefully on behalf of us all. We should listen closely to their recommendations."
Sir David Attenborough, Naturalist & Broadcaster
The recruitment process for assembly members had three stages.
Stage one – letters to a randomly selected households
"I was quite intrigued by the letter. To be asked for my opinion is unusual so it was certainly interesting."
Assembly member
The recruitment process started with Parliament sending out letters to addresses randomly selected from Royal Mail's Postcode Address File: 80% of the addresses were randomly selected from the whole file; 20% from the most deprived areas within the file.6
Notes ():
6: Responses to invitation letters can be lower from more deprived areas. Weighting where letters are sent in this way helps ensure that enough people from these areas respond for the assembly's eventual make-up to be representative of the wider population.
The letters 7invited those aged 16 years or over, who are permanent UK residents 8, living at an address that received a letter, to take part in the assembly. 9 Recipients had the option to respond online or by phone to say that they were free on the relevant dates and would be interested in taking part. 10When they replied, we asked them a small number of demographic and attitudinal questions – those needed to be able to ensure that the assembly's eventual membership was representative of the UK population across the seven criteria described above.
Notes ():
7: The invitation letter explained information including when the assembly would be held, the assembly's remit, who had commissioned it, and what the commissioning committees would do with its results. It also covered information about the assembly team's ability to meet different access needs and the support we could provide.
8: We defined this as anyone that had stayed, or intended to stay, in the UK for a period of 12 months or more at the date on the invitation letter.
9: The following people could not apply to be part of the assembly: Members of either Houses of the UK Parliament, the Welsh Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, or the Northern Ireland Assembly – and the staff of any of these Members; Local Authority Councillors; elected mayors; paid employees of any political party or of UK Parliament.
10: We received positive responses from 1,748 people. This response rate of 5.8% is within the typical range for citizens' assemblies in the UK (3–7%).
Stage two – random stratified sampling, done by computer
"I do hope there will be an opportunity for us all to meet up again. The Climate Assembly has been an extremely interesting and worthwhile experience for me and one which I feel very privileged to have participated in. Thank you computer!!!"
Assembly member
Once the deadline for responses had passed, the Sortition Foundation used random stratified sampling by computer11 to generate a list of 110 people to become assembly members.12 The computer selected no more than one person from any single household.
Notes ():
11: The code for the selection is open source, and can be found on GitHub. Those who contributed to the code include Professor Ariel Procaccia and his team at Harvard University and Carnegie Mellon University.
12: 105 assembly members were selected to be strictly representative of the UK population. The final five assembly members were used to over-sample groups that are either very small (meaning that an assembly member being ill for a weekend, for example, would leave them poorly represented) or which are more likely to drop out of the assembly process. For example, we slightly over-sampled people from Northern Ireland. Similarly, taken together, people in the attitudes to climate change poll who are 'not at all' or 'not very concerned' about climate change are slightly over-represented (+3 people) amongst assembly members.
Sortition Foundation contacted these 110 individuals to let them know that they had been selected and to confirm their availability. They replaced anyone who dropped out at this stage, ensuring the assembly's overall membership continued to be representative. They also contacted all other respondents to let them know they were on a reserve list and could be contacted if anyone withdrew before the first assembly weekend.
Stage three – liaison and final replacements
"I'm looking forward to taking part in the assembly and learning a lot more, and I think I have some great ideas to contribute."
Assembly Member – Maia, 44, from London
Involve, the public participation charity that would run the assembly weekends (please see Section D), took over contact with assembly members from this point. They focussed on ensuring that everyone had everything they needed ready for the first assembly weekend. This included providing any necessary support, for example with booking travel.
A number of assembly members had to withdraw during this stage for a variety of personal reasons. Involve replaced these assembly members with people from the reserve list, ensuring that the assembly's membership overall remained representative of the UK population.
"I was a bit worried that it would just be the people who were most passionate about the crisis – that you'd get an influx of people so it would be very one-sided and biased. So to come in and find it is a complete representation: I've spoken to people for who it's a complete crisis – to complete denial or don't believe it's a real thing, that end of the spectrum. So to see that representation was quite a surprise and really refreshing for someone like myself."
Assembly member – Chris, 32, from Oxford
All but two of the 110 assembly members arrived at the Climate Assembly UK venue for the assembly's first weekend. This made a total assembly membership of 108 people.13 The table below shows how these 108 assembly members compare to the UK population:
Notes ():
13: One assembly member withdrew from the assembly process after the first weekend for personal reasons. As this happened so early in the assembly process, and all the talks and Q&A sessions from weekend one were available online, we decided to replace them from the assembly's reserve list. A new assembly member joined from weekend two and remained with the assembly throughout its duration.
| Criteria | UK population[^14] % | Assembly members % | No. of assembly members |
|---|---|---|---|
Age | |||
16–29 | 21.7 | 23.1 | 25 |
30–44 | 23.9 | 25.9 | 28 |
45–59 | 25.0 | 24.1 | 26 |
60+ | 29.4 | 26.9 | 29 |
Data Source: ONS estimate mid-2018. | |||
Gender | |||
Male | 49.1 | 48.1 | 52 |
Female | 51 | 50.9 | 55 |
Other | No data | 0.9 | 1 |
Data Source: ONS estimate mid-2018. | |||
Ethnicity | |||
White | 87 | 83.3 | 90 |
BAME | 13 | 16.7 | 18 |
Data Source: ONS UK Census 2011. | |||
Education | |||
No Qualifications / Level 1 | 36.3 | 36.1 | 39 |
Level 2 / Level 3 / Apprenticeship / Other | 36.5 | 34.3 | 37 |
Level 4 and above | 27.2 | 29.6 | 32 |
Date source for England and Wales: ONS 2011 UK Census. Data source for Scotland: Scottish Government’s Scottish Surveys Core Questions 2013. Data source for Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Northern Ireland Census 2011. | |||
Geography | |||
England | |||
North East | 4.0 | 4.6 | 5 |
North West | 11.0 | 11.1 | 12 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 8.3 | 8.3 | 9 |
East Midlands | 7.2 | 7.4 | 8 |
West Midlands | 8.9 | 8.3 | 9 |
East of England | 9.3 | 9.3 | 10 |
London | 13.4 | 12.0 | 13 |
South East | 13.8 | 12.0 | 13 |
South West | 8.4 | 8.3 | 9 |
Wales | 4.7 | 5.6 | 6 |
Scotland | 8.2 | 9.3 | 10 |
Northern Ireland | 2.8 | 3.7 | 4 |
Data Source: ONS estimate mid-2018. | |||
Rural/Urban | |||
Urban | 82 | 79.6 | 86 |
Rural | 18 | 20.4 | 22 |
Data source for England and Wales: UK Government, Rural population 2014/2015. Data source for Scotland: Scottish Government, Rural Scotland – key facts 2018. Data source for Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Northern Ireland Census 2011. | |||
Climate views | |||
Very concerned | 52 | 49.1 | 53 |
Fairly concerned | 33 | 32.4 | 35 |
Not very concerned | 9 | 14.8 | 16 |
Not at all concerned | 5 | 2.8 | 3 |
Other | 1 | 0.9 | 1 |
Data Source: Ipsos/Mori, July 2019 (Q: How concerned, if at all, are you about climate change, sometimes referred to as ‘global warming’? |
Assembly members' attendance throughout the assembly remained high. Ill-health and other personal reasons occasionally meant that one or more assembly members missed a weekend.14 However this never had a significant effect on the percentages in the table above.
Notes ():
14: One assembly member missed weekend two for health reasons. One (not the same person) missed weekend three for health reasons. When the assembly moved online due to coronavirus (please see Section B), two assembly members got in touch to tell us that they may have difficulty attending assembly sessions for Covid-19 related reasons. They asked to receive all the assembly information and said they would take part if they could. We aimed to facilitate their involvement by, for example, sharing speakers' pre-recorded presentations with them to watch in their own time. Sadly, however, these two assembly members did not take part in the online weekends. One further assembly member, who had previously missed a weekend for health reasons, also did not take part. Two further assembly members missed the final assembly weekend for personal reasons. The final weekend therefore had the lowest attendance of any weekend, with 103 out of the 108 assembly members present.
Assembly members spent much of their time at the assembly working in small groups. We created seating plans to make sure there were a diverse range of assembly members at each table, in line with the seven recruitment criteria. We changed the seating plan every day during the offline weekends and for each session during the online weekends.
Above : Assembly members discuss the issues.
"Edd, Rebecca and the rest of the red [support] team you've made me feel so welcomed, relaxed and at ease on all three of the hotel weekends. You answered all of my queries, questions and emails no matter how trivial it may have been. You've all been so friendly and chatty. You've been with me every step of this whole experience, even when I've been tired and emotional. I stepped completely out of my comfort zone and [taking part] wouldn't have been possible without all of you."
Assembly member
Access and inclusion were key considerations throughout the assembly.15 Prior to the first weekend, they influenced decisions such as our venue choice (a fully accessible venue), the venue's location, and the timings of the events. We gave assembly members an honorarium of £150 per weekend16 for their participation, as well as covering their travel, accommodation and food/drink. Where relevant we covered costs such as childcare and the attendance of parents/guardians. We paid all costs relating to assembly members bringing carers with them to the weekends. We also met other access needs by, for example, providing hearing loops, headsets and materials in large print.
Notes ():
15: The measures described here are not an exhaustive list but they give an indication of the kinds of steps taken by the assembly team. We made it clear to assembly members that we could provide these, and other, types of support in the invitation letter. We also checked all assembly members' needs and preferences during stage three of recruitment.
16: We advised assembly members receiving welfare benefits to check with their advisor about whether or not the honorarium would negatively affect them and, if yes, whether it would help if the honorarium was paid in vouchers for a shop of their choice. Assembly members could also choose to waive the honorarium entirely, although no one did. Some assembly members did choose to receive vouchers rather than bank transfers.
"The tone set by Involve was perfect. It was welcoming, open and yet firm and assertive. It encouraged people to behave well and to take the assembly very seriously. It created an atmosphere of respect, co-operation, tolerance and humour. People from all walks of life were able to discuss and share with each other in a way they wouldn't have managed in a different setting."
Assembly member
Access and inclusion remained key considerations at the assembly venue. In the first assembly session, assembly members drafted conversation guidelines for themselves. Examples included "respect others' backgrounds and opinions", "ensure everyone can participate", "be calm and polite", and "be honest and don't be afraid to give your opinion." The facilitators17 at the weekends helped to ensure that assembly members were mindful of the guidelines at all times. They also used facilitation techniques that helped ensure everyone had a voice. We worked with the Expert Leads and speakers (please see Section D) to make the information presented to assembly members as accessible and digestible as possible.
Notes ():
17: There was a professional facilitator at each table, as well as at the front of the room.
We took a number of additional steps around access and inclusion when the assembly moved online due to Covid-19. These included minimising the amount of time assembly members, including those with young children, had to spend online at any one point, and ensuring that all assembly members had a way to participate in the sessions for free. We provided technical support and a guided chance to get to know the platforms we would be using. We provided flexible arrangements, where needed, for how and when assembly members could participate.
"They were all so mindful of our needs and sympathetic to the different levels of confidence we had. A particular mention of the 'Quiet Room' staff. I hadn't expected to find this facility and was impressed that it had been thought of. I used it myself on a couple of occasions and found it to be an oasis of calm."
Assembly member
Another critical consideration was assembly members' wellbeing . 18 There was a support team both at and between weekends whose focus was to look after assembly members. We asked assembly members to fill out feedback forms at the end of every assembly weekend so that we could check for any issues. We also checked-in with each assembly member individually after each event to make sure all was well.
Notes ():
18: Again this list is not exhaustive, but it gives a flavour of the measures put in place.
At the assembly venue in Birmingham we created a designated Quiet Room, staffed by a trained member of the team. Assembly members could use it at any time if they were feeling unwell, distressed, in need of some space, or for any other reason. When the assembly moved online, we instead provided a phone number that assembly members could use to reach trained members of staff.
Above : Assembly members discuss the issues.
The assembly was originally intended to run over four weekends in Birmingham, between the end of January and the end of March 2020. Three of these weekends happened as planned. The arrival of Covid-19 in the UK led to the fourth and final weekend being postponed and then moved online.
"It was disappointing that weekend four didn't go ahead, but obviously we have to protect everybody's health, so it was the right thing to do. I am glad that it is going forward in some capacity and I think that doing it virtually is the best way to do this."
Assembly member – Sharon, from Yorkshire
We split the intended content for the offline weekend four over three online weekends to ensure the assembly remained accessible (please see Section A.3 above).19 Following requests from assembly members, Parliament and the Expert Leads, we also added a session on the implications of Covid-19 for the path to net zero.20
Notes ():
19: Each weekend in Birmingham ran from Friday evening to Sunday lunchtime. The online weekends each had short sessions on Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
20: Please see Chapter 10 for the results of this session.
The content of each weekend was as follows:
"Being here and seeing all these people, from all walks of life, representing the UK population, all so involved and willing to help make a change is really inspiring."
Assembly Member – Ibrahim, 42, from Surrey
All assembly members heard from, and questioned, three panels of speakers. The panels covered an introduction to climate change and the net zero target; and overarching ethical, practical and strategic questions about the path to net zero.
Assembly members also reached their first decisions, on principles that should underpin the UK's approach to meeting its climate target (please see Chapter 2).
"It's an eye-opener all the new things I'm learning – incredible."
Assembly Member – Amanda, from Kent
On the Friday evening of weekend two, assembly members focussed on ways to consider the information they would receive throughout the assembly process.21 On Saturday morning, all assembly members heard an introduction to where our energy comes from, and questioned the speakers. The assembly then split into three groups to examine:
Notes ():
21: Assembly members heard a short presentation on this topic from Dr Alan Renwick, (Constitution Unit, University College London). All speakers' presentations are available as slides, videos and transcripts at climateassembly.uk/resources/ .
We divided assembly members into the three groups using random stratified sampling based on the seven recruitment criteria listed in Section A. This ensured each group remained representative of the UK population. Assembly members spent the remainder of weekend two in these groups, hearing evidence, questioning speakers and beginning to discuss what they had heard.
"I feel like attitudes are constantly changing among who I'm sitting with and I'm enjoying it. Figuring out how we're going to balance finance and technology and trying to grasp how we're going to be able to fund these things but make sure things are getting done... It's pretty special, especially as I'm only 21. It's something I didn't think I'd be able to get involved in, this early on. It's going to have such a big impact on my future and hopefully, my children's future so it's really lovely to be asked to be involved in such a massive but valuable project."
Assembly Member – Ellie, 21, from Buckinghamshire
Weekend three started with a chance for assembly members to feed in their thoughts on the topics that their group had not considered at the previous weekend. We wrote these thoughts up overnight on the Friday and provided them to assembly members in the relevant groups on Saturday morning.
Assembly members spent the rest of weekend three in their topic groups, discussing the evidence they had heard at weekend two and reaching their decisions on these issues.
"Going online was another experience I had never had before. It worked really well. It was well organised and well done."
Assembly member
All assembly members spent weekend four focussed on the issue of 'where our electricity comes from' (please see Chapter 8). Assembly members heard from a panel of speakers on Saturday morning, questioned them on Saturday afternoon and discussed their views on Sunday morning. They made their final decisions by vote online, in a secure way, at the close of the weekend.
"The facilitation team has been amazing. They've kept us engaged and focused throughout the weekends which can't have been easy when your dealing with 110 opinionated human beings … and they've done it in a friendly and respectful way."
Assembly member
Weekend five followed the same format as weekend four, with all assembly members considering the topic of 'removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere' (please see Chapter 9).
"As a member of Climate Assembly UK I am proud that, despite the many challenges faced by us all during the Covid-19 pandemic, we have still managed to finish the work needed to successfully provide the six select committees with proposals to meet the target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. I hope Parliament will take time to consider these proposals with due care and respect."
Assembly member – Adrian, 52, from Northern Ireland
Weekend six was split into three parts:
- On Saturday morning, all assembly members considered early drafts of sections of the assembly report, and provided feedback on them;
- On Saturday afternoon, all assembly members explored the implications of Covid-19 for the path to net zero (please see Chapter 10). They voted on some questions around this topic online at the end of the day;
- On Sunday morning, all assembly members discussed whether there were any additional recommendations that they wanted to add to the report (please see Chapter 11). Again, decisions on this area were made by vote online.
Assembly members continued to provide feedback on drafts of this report, and on the assembly's interim briefing released in June 2020,22 after the end of weekend six.
Notes ():
22: The assembly released its key recommendations on 'Covid-19, recovery and the path to net zero' in June 2020, in advance of government announcements on this issue.
Assembly members learnt about each topic they considered and discussed them in-depth. They then made their decisions. This decision-making phase took two different forms:
- Sometimes assembly members drafted options to vote on themselves, in an entirely bottom-up process;
- Sometimes they voted on pre-prepared options, occasionally modifying these in advance of the vote.23
Notes ():
23: The Expert Leads also used assembly members' comments at previous weekends to help shape the options.
Citizens' assemblies often primarily use the first kind of entirely bottom-up decision-making process. Climate Assembly UK supplemented this with votes on scenarios and options for a number of reasons:
- The target – it provided a guide to assembly members about how to construct packages of recommendations across the ten themes that together were capable of achieving net zero by 2050;
- Key trade offs – it meant that the assembly was able to explore and explicitly take a view on the key options and trade-offs facing decision-makers;
- Time – it enabled the assembly to cover a broader range of topics and issues in the time available to it.
The process for deciding on the options and scenarios used at the assembly was the same as the one for ensuring the information assembly members heard was balanced, accurate and comprehensive (please see Section C of this chapter).
Which decision-making process was used for which decisions is described clearly throughout this report.
Above : An assembly member takes notes.
The assembly team worked hard to ensure that the information presented to assembly members was balanced, accurate and comprehensive.
This work started with the assembly's Expert Leads: Chris Stark, Committee on Climate Change; Professor Jim Watson, University College London; Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh, University of Bath; and Professor Rebecca Willis, University of Lancaster.24
Notes ():
24: Involve (please see Section D) contacted the Expert Leads to ask if they would be interested in principle in being involved before submitting a proposal for Parliament's tender for contract. The team at Parliament working on Climate Assembly UK approved these individuals as the assembly's Expert Leads when awarding the contract, on the basis of their clear expertise in addressing climate change.
The role of the Experts Leads was to ensure 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 get to net zero by 2050.
They worked closely with Involve (please see Section D below) to draft the assembly's structure, including the themes it would consider, and the focus of each panel of speakers. They also drafted briefs for each speaker slot on each panel, and suggested names of speakers against each brief.
The Expert Leads all attended the assembly weekends as speakers and to provide balanced answers to questions that arose during assembly members' discussions. They were supported in this role by Jenny Hill, Committee on Climate Change, and Professor Jillian Anable, University of Leeds.
The Expert Leads' suggestions for the content of the assembly went first to its Advisory Panel for feedback. Members of the Advisory Panel were, in alphabetical order:25
Notes ():
25: Advisory Panel members were chosen to represent stakeholders with an interest or expertise in the areas of emissions reduction that Parliament and the Expert Leads felt Climate Assembly UK should examine. The organisations were chosen to make the panel balanced across a broad range of political and ideological standpoints, representing different parts of society (e.g. business, trade unions, NGOs and civil society groups). A climate change specialist in the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) drew up an initial list of members. The Climate Assembly UK team at Parliament then worked with the Expert Leads to ensure that this group met the above criteria.
- Fernanda Balata, New Economics Foundation
- Tanisha Beebee, Confederation of British Industry (CBI)
- Patrick Begg, National Trust
- Allen Creedy, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB)
- Audrey Gallacher, Energy UK
- Professor Michael Grubb, University College London (UCL) Institute for Sustainable Resources
- Eamonn Ives, Centre for Policy Studies
- Ann Jones, National Federation of Women's Institutes
- Ceris Jones, National Farmers Union (NFU)
- Chaitanya Kumar, Green Alliance26
- Kirsten Leggatt, 2050 Climate Group
- Matthew Lesh, Adam Smith Institute
- Nick Molho, Aldersgate Group
- Luke Murphy, Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)
- Tim Page, Trades Union Congress (TUC)
- Doug Parr, Greenpeace
- Dr Alan Renwick, Constitution Unit, University College London (UCL)
- Dhara Vyas, Citizens' Advice
- Rebecca Williams, RenewableUK
Notes ():
26: Chaitanya has since changed roles but was at Green Alliance at the point when Advisory Panel meetings took place.
Panel members commented on every part of the plans, suggesting additional content, amended structures for panels, and alternative speakers. Minutes of Advisory Panel meetings are published on the Climate Assembly UK website. Advisory Panel members also commented on all written briefings provided to assembly members.
Members of Climate Assembly UK's academic panel were, in alphabetical order:27
Notes ():
27: Academic Panel members were chosen on the basis of their expertise on areas of climate change that Parliament and the Expert Leads felt Climate Assembly UK should examine. A climate change specialist in the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) drew up an initial list of members. The Climate Assembly UK team at Parliament then worked with the Expert Leads to ensure that this group met the above criteria.
- Jillian Anable, Professor of Transport and Energy, University of Leeds
- John Barrett, Professor of Energy and Climate Policy, University of Leeds
- John Barry, Professor of Green Political Economy, Queen's University Belfast
- Jason Chilvers, Professor of Environment and Society, University of East Anglia
- Nick Eyre, Professor of Energy and Climate Policy, University of Oxford
- Dr Clair Gough, Senior Research Fellow with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Manchester
- Dr Rosie Green, Assistant Professor in Nutrition and Sustainability, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
- Dr Jo House, Reader in Environmental Science and Policy, University of Bristol
- Tahseen Jafry, Professor of Climate and Social Justice and Director The Centre for Climate Justice, Glasgow Caledonian University
- Carly McLachlan, Professor of Climate and Energy Policy, University of Manchester
- Dale Southerton, Professor in Sociology of Consumption and Organisation, University of Bristol
- Benjamin Sovacool, Professor of Energy Policy at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex
The Expert Leads drew on the expertise of individual members of this panel when drafting and finalising the assembly's suggested content. Academic panel members also commented on written briefings provided to assembly members within their respective areas of specialism.
Climate Assembly UK is grateful for the engagement and input of a number of prominent business, faith and civil society leaders from across UK society.
These individuals received a briefing on Climate Assembly UK in December 2019 and had the opportunity to provide comments:
- Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, Director-General, CBI
- Joanna Haigh CBE FRS, Emeritus Professor of atmospheric physics and recent co-director of the Grantham Institute on climate change at Imperial College London
- Rt Rev Nicholas Holtam, Lord Bishop of Salisbury and Church of England lead on the environment
- Anabel Hoult, CEO, Which?
- Geraldine Howley OBE, CEO, Incommunities Group and Chair of the Chartered Institute of Housing's governing board
- Minette Batters, President, National Farmers' Union
- Harun Khan, Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain
- Edmund King OBE, AA President
- Professor Lord Krebs, Emeritus Professor of Zoology Oxford University, Former Member of the Climate Change Committee and Chair of the Adaptation Sub Committee
- Martin Lewis OBE, Founder, MoneySavingExpert.com
- Dr Helena McKeown, Chair of the BMA's Representative Body
- Deirdre Michie OBE, Chief Executive, OGUK
- Ephraim Mirvis, Chief Rabbi
- Nick Molho, Executive Director, Aldersgate Group
- His Eminence Cardinal Vincent Gerard Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster
- Frances O'Grady, General Secretary, Trades Union Congress
- Stephen Phipson CBE, Chief Executive, Make UK
- Jonathon Porritt, Founder Director, Forum for the Future
- Dr Nina M Skorupska CBE FEI, Chief Executive, REA – The Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology
- Beccy Speight, Chief Executive, RSPB
- Matt Wrack, General Secretary, Fire Brigades Union
- Sir Simon Stevens, Chief Executive, NHS
Sign off28 on the assembly's plans rested with Parliament, including House of Commons select committee staff and officials from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). These individuals have considerable experience of putting together balanced panels and evidence for Members of Parliament and select committees.
Notes ():
28: Parliamentary officials were also able to input to all aspects of the assembly's plans at earlier stages in their development.
The assembly's final design included presentations from forty-seven speakers, including the Expert Leads. Some speakers were asked to act as 'informants', meaning they needed to cover the range of views and available evidence on a topic. Others were asked to be 'advocates', giving their own view or that of their organisation. At the start of each chapter we have included in a footnote a list of the speakers who presented on that topic and noted whether they were advocates or informants. We also gave assembly members this information before they heard from the relevant individuals.
In addition to the forty-seven speakers, and the opportunity to hear from Sir David Attenborough, Chairs of two of the commissioning select committees – Rachel Reeves MP,29 and Mel Stride MP – addressed the assembly. They thanked assembly members for taking part and explained why they see Climate Assembly UK as important.
Notes ():
29: Rachel Reeves MP has since left her role as a committee chair to become Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office.
A full list of speakers, including the two MPs, can be found on the Climate Assembly UK website.
Transparency was a key consideration for the Climate Assembly UK team. The Climate Assembly UK website (www.climateassembly.uk) contains information including:
- Videos of all speakers' presentations to the assembly, along with their slides and transcripts of what they said;
- Videos of question and answer sessions with speakers that took place in plenary, along with transcripts of those sessions;
- All written briefings given to assembly members;
- Full lists of the assembly's Expert Leads, Advisory Panel members, Academic Panel members and the organisations involved in delivering the assembly, along with minutes of Advisory Panel meetings.
We live-streamed all speaker presentations to the assembly online. We also opened the assembly to a wide range of media, stakeholders, officials and politicians so that they could observe the assembly's proceedings.
We were careful to balance our wish for complete transparency against the need to protect assembly members' identities. Assembly members all had a choice about whether or not to take part in media interviews, photos and audio/video footage of the assembly. It was also their decision whether or not to reveal their identity on social media.
After a competitive tendering process, in September 2019 Parliament awarded a contract for the delivery of Climate Assembly UK to:
- The Involve Foundation ('Involve') – a public participation charity, whose vision is of a vibrant democracy with people at the heart of decision-making. Involve was responsible for ensuring that Climate Assembly UK was a high quality citizens' assembly. It also recruited and led the facilitation team for the assembly and managed the project overall. It was the main point of contact for assembly members. www.involve.org.uk
- Sortition Foundation – a not-for-profit company that promotes the use of randomly selected groups of people in decision-making. Sortition Foundation was responsible for recruiting assembly members. www.sortitionfoundation.org
- mySociety – a not-for-profit social enterprise that provides technology, research and data that help people to be active citizens. It was responsible for Climate Assembly UK's branding and website. www.mysociety.org
Climate Assembly UK was funded by the House of Commons, with additional funding from two philanthropic organisations: the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the European Climate Foundation.30 The two philanthropic organisations did not have a say in how the assembly was run or what it covered.
Notes ():
30: The House of Commons provided £120,000 in funding. The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the European Climate Foundation contributed a further £200,000 each, rising to £220,000 each to help cover the additional costs incurred due to Covid-19.
The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit worked with Parliament to support communications outreach around the Climate Assembly UK weekends and results. www.eciu.net
An independent evaluation of Climate Assembly UK will be published in Spring 2021. However, initial results suggest that assembly members viewed the assembly very positively:
| Statement about the assembly, from the survey completed by assembly members after all six weekends | % assembly members ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ | % assembly members ‘don’t know / unsure’ | % assembly members ‘strongly disagreed’ or ‘disagreed’ |
|---|---|---|---|
‘I have understood almost everything that the other members of my small group said during our discussions’ | 98 | 1 | 1 |
‘I have understood almost everything that was presented by the speakers’ | 95 | 4 | 1 |
‘I have had enough information to participate effectively’ | 91 | 5 | 4 |
‘The information I have received has been fair and balanced between different view points’ | 78 | 16 | 6 |
‘The assembly has helped me clarify my views about how to reach net zero’ | 96 | 1 | 3 |
‘I have learned a lot during the assembly about how UK can achieve net zero by 2050’ | 95 | 3 | 2 |
‘My fellow participants have respected what I had to say, even when they didn’t agree with me’ | 94 | 5 | 0 |
‘I have had ample opportunity in the small group discussions to express my views’ | 95 | 2 | 3 |
‘Assemblies like this should be used more often to inform government and parliament decision-making’ | 90 | 7 | 3 |
The interim results also suggest that taking part in the assembly has impacted positively on assembly members' appetite and confidence to engage in political decision-making . 88% of assembly members 'strongly agreed' or 'agreed' that they 'feel more confident to engage in political decision-making as a result of being involved in this citizens' assembly.' The same percentage 'strongly agreed' or 'agreed' that 'taking part in this citizens' assembly has made me want to be more involved in other aspects of decision-making.'
"Like everyone else, I really enjoyed the entire experience, and I am sorry that it has now come to an end. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I am truly grateful to have been given the chance to take part."
Assembly member
"Concern about climate change is as high as ever, and it's clear we all need to play our part to achieve the net zero emissions target that was passed into UK law by Parliament last year. This is why I welcome the work of Climate Assembly UK, a great example of parliamentarians engaging with the public to help influence their work and proposals for action. I am very grateful to the assembly members for their time. I look forward to hearing the outcome of their discussions – and to chairing House of Commons debates on a topic that is so relevant to us all."
Right Honourable Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons
The rest of this report recounts the assembly's detailed and considered view of its recommended path to net zero by 2050. Taken together the recommendations provide a internally consistent and coherent vision, and are designed to be considered as a whole.
Next section: Underpinning principles
(Contents)
Footnotes
1 The six commissioning select committees were: Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; Environmental Audit; Housing, Communities and Local Government; Science and Technology; Transport; and Treasury.
2 The committees announced their plans for the assembly on 20 June 2019.
3 For a broader discussion on citizens' assembly features and standards in a UK context please see https://www.involve.org.uk/resources/blog/news/when-citizens-assembly-not-citizens-assembly-towards-some-standards .
4 Sir David did not give evidence to the assembly, instead he came to meet assembly members before dinner at the first assembly weekend. He thanked assembly members for giving up their time to be part of the assembly, and took questions about his life and work – but not about his views on the path to net zero.
5 Please see Section D below.
6 Responses to invitation letters can be lower from more deprived areas. Weighting where letters are sent in this way helps ensure that enough people from these areas respond for the assembly's eventual make-up to be representative of the wider population.
7 The invitation letter explained information including when the assembly would be held, the assembly's remit, who had commissioned it, and what the commissioning committees would do with its results. It also covered information about the assembly team's ability to meet different access needs and the support we could provide.
8 We defined this as anyone that had stayed, or intended to stay, in the UK for a period of 12 months or more at the date on the invitation letter.
9 The following people could not apply to be part of the assembly: Members of either Houses of the UK Parliament, the Welsh Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, or the Northern Ireland Assembly – and the staff of any of these Members; Local Authority Councillors; elected mayors; paid employees of any political party or of UK Parliament.
10 We received positive responses from 1,748 people. This response rate of 5.8% is within the typical range for citizens' assemblies in the UK (3–7%).
11 The code for the selection is open source, and can be found on GitHub. Those who contributed to the code include Professor Ariel Procaccia and his team at Harvard University and Carnegie Mellon University.
12 105 assembly members were selected to be strictly representative of the UK population. The final five assembly members were used to over-sample groups that are either very small (meaning that an assembly member being ill for a weekend, for example, would leave them poorly represented) or which are more likely to drop out of the assembly process. For example, we slightly over-sampled people from Northern Ireland. Similarly, taken together, people in the attitudes to climate change poll who are 'not at all' or 'not very concerned' about climate change are slightly over-represented (+3 people) amongst assembly members.
13 One assembly member withdrew from the assembly process after the first weekend for personal reasons. As this happened so early in the assembly process, and all the talks and Q&A sessions from weekend one were available online, we decided to replace them from the assembly's reserve list. A new assembly member joined from weekend two and remained with the assembly throughout its duration.
14 One assembly member missed weekend two for health reasons. One (not the same person) missed weekend three for health reasons. When the assembly moved online due to coronavirus (please see Section B), two assembly members got in touch to tell us that they may have difficulty attending assembly sessions for Covid-19 related reasons. They asked to receive all the assembly information and said they would take part if they could. We aimed to facilitate their involvement by, for example, sharing speakers' pre-recorded presentations with them to watch in their own time. Sadly, however, these two assembly members did not take part in the online weekends. One further assembly member, who had previously missed a weekend for health reasons, also did not take part. Two further assembly members missed the final assembly weekend for personal reasons. The final weekend therefore had the lowest attendance of any weekend, with 103 out of the 108 assembly members present.
15 The measures described here are not an exhaustive list but they give an indication of the kinds of steps taken by the assembly team. We made it clear to assembly members that we could provide these, and other, types of support in the invitation letter. We also checked all assembly members' needs and preferences during stage three of recruitment.
16 We advised assembly members receiving welfare benefits to check with their advisor about whether or not the honorarium would negatively affect them and, if yes, whether it would help if the honorarium was paid in vouchers for a shop of their choice. Assembly members could also choose to waive the honorarium entirely, although no one did. Some assembly members did choose to receive vouchers rather than bank transfers.
17 There was a professional facilitator at each table, as well as at the front of the room.
18 Again this list is not exhaustive, but it gives a flavour of the measures put in place.
19 Each weekend in Birmingham ran from Friday evening to Sunday lunchtime. The online weekends each had short sessions on Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
20 Please see Chapter 10 for the results of this session.
21 Assembly members heard a short presentation on this topic from Dr Alan Renwick, (Constitution Unit, University College London). All speakers' presentations are available as slides, videos and transcripts at climateassembly.uk/resources/ .
22 The assembly released its key recommendations on 'Covid-19, recovery and the path to net zero' in June 2020, in advance of government announcements on this issue.
23 The Expert Leads also used assembly members' comments at previous weekends to help shape the options.
24 Involve (please see Section D) contacted the Expert Leads to ask if they would be interested in principle in being involved before submitting a proposal for Parliament's tender for contract. The team at Parliament working on Climate Assembly UK approved these individuals as the assembly's Expert Leads when awarding the contract, on the basis of their clear expertise in addressing climate change.
25 Advisory Panel members were chosen to represent stakeholders with an interest or expertise in the areas of emissions reduction that Parliament and the Expert Leads felt Climate Assembly UK should examine. The organisations were chosen to make the panel balanced across a broad range of political and ideological standpoints, representing different parts of society (e.g. business, trade unions, NGOs and civil society groups). A climate change specialist in the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) drew up an initial list of members. The Climate Assembly UK team at Parliament then worked with the Expert Leads to ensure that this group met the above criteria.
26 Chaitanya has since changed roles but was at Green Alliance at the point when Advisory Panel meetings took place.
27 Academic Panel members were chosen on the basis of their expertise on areas of climate change that Parliament and the Expert Leads felt Climate Assembly UK should examine. A climate change specialist in the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) drew up an initial list of members. The Climate Assembly UK team at Parliament then worked with the Expert Leads to ensure that this group met the above criteria.
28 Parliamentary officials were also able to input to all aspects of the assembly's plans at earlier stages in their development.
29 Rachel Reeves MP has since left her role as a committee chair to become Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office.
30 The House of Commons provided £120,000 in funding. The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the European Climate Foundation contributed a further £200,000 each, rising to £220,000 each to help cover the additional costs incurred due to Covid-19.