Re-imagining the Making of Climate Law and Policy in Citizens' Assemblies

Abstract

In recent years, climate citizens' assemblies - randomly selected representative citizens gathered to make policy recommendations on greenhouse gas emissions targets - have gained in popularity as a potential innovative solution to the failure of governments to design and adopt ambitious climate change laws and policies. This article appraises the process and outcomes of three climate citizens' assemblies held at the national level - in Ireland, France and the United Kingdom - and evaluates their contributions to the making of climate law and policy. In doing so, it first looks at whether citizens' assemblies have the ability to improve the substance of climate law and suggests that they face difficulties in providing an integrated, holistic response to the climate problem. It then explores how citizens' assemblies have fed into subsequent legislative processes to show their positive influence and draws lessons for our understanding of the role of citizens' assemblies in climate lawmaking.