Climate Assemblies and Public Debate and Opinion: An Analysis of UK Cases

Climate assemblies (CAs) are being increasingly used to engage citizens in climate change policy making throughout Europe. Consequently, their design and operation are focused on optimising their influence on politicians, governments, and policymakers. Much less emphasis is placed on how and to what extent CAs influence the wider public. However, public awareness of and support for CAs could stimulate public debate about climate change action and possibly change attitudes too. This could also increase pressure on decision-makers to act on an assembly’s recommendations, improving their influence on climate change policymaking. We assess this through an analysis of two UK cases. The publicity budgets for Climate Assembly UK (CAUK) and Scotland’s Climate Assembly (SCA) were relatively higher than previous mini-publics, with dedicated mainstream and social media campaigns, however, public awareness of both these CAs remained low. Using the results of population surveys this study provides intersectional analysis of public awareness of, and attitudes to, CAs. Using the results of surveys of the participants of each assembly, we compare public views with those of the assembly members to consider how participation in CAs affects attitudes to the process. There have been calls to increase resources for publicising CAs. The results of this study could aid how these resources could be allocated for future CAs to realise the benefits of increased public knowledge and awareness.