Citizens’ Assemblies and the Climate Emergency: Lessons for Design to Enhance Climate Action

The report analyzes the challenges and enablers of climate assemblies, arguing that their effectiveness depends on early design decisions and their integration into formal policymaking to move beyond one-off processes.

• The impact of climate assemblies varies by scale, with local-level assemblies generally exerting more significant influence than those at the national level.
• Climate assemblies often struggle due to the inherent nature of climate change, including its urgency, the scale of required system changes, social complexity, and polarized public debate. Common operational failures include remits that are too broad, insufficient time and resources, a lack of data regarding social impacts, and weak links to the general public.
• To improve outcomes, the report advocates for a 'second generation' of assemblies that are more focused, empowered, and institutionalized within decision-making processes, with a specific need to better utilize them for supporting just transitions.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Citizens’ Assemblies and the Climate Emergency: Lessons for Design to Enhance Climate Action. https://www.wri.org/research/citizens-assemblies-and-climate-emergency-lessons-design-enhance-climate-action

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Citizens’ Assemblies and the Climate Emergency: Lessons for Design to Enhance Climate Action. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/citizens-assemblies-and-climate-emergency-lessons-design-enhance-climate-action.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Citizens’ Assemblies and the Climate Emergency: Lessons for Design to Enhance Climate Action |url=https://www.wri.org/research/citizens-assemblies-and-climate-emergency-lessons-design-enhance-climate-action |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendcitizens, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Citizens’ Assemblies and the Climate Emergency: Lessons for Design to Enhance Climate Action}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/citizens-assemblies-and-climate-emergency-lessons-design-enhance-climate-action}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }