Only a minority of respondents in recent surveys trust their governments to achieve a just transition.
It has been nearly ten years since countries came together in Paris and agreed finally to get serious about averting a climate disaster. But while there is an emerging consensus on the structural economic reforms needed to transform such sectors as energy, transport and agriculture, the necessary investments are not being made quickly enough.
Instead, our governance systems are struggling to muster an adequate response to what is an increasingly obvious and severe climate and ecological crisis. Although many governments have proposed robust climate measures, these often trigger a social backlash, because they are perceived as unjust and inequitable. Many see policies that pit the old against the young, the city against the country or the global north against the global south. Such controversies are tailor-made for ‘social media’, where they ripen and then rot in a hothouse of misinformation, incendiary rhetoric and polarisation.
Although the argument for the necessity of major reform has been won, the argument for how to do it fairly has not. This challenge will become only more difficult the deeper we get into the ‘net zero’ transition. Most people care deeply about addressing the climate crisis: in a survey conducted across 18 G20 countries, 71 per cent of respondents agreed that major action was needed immediately to reduce carbon emissions. But trust in government is lacking, with only 39 per cent believing that their own government would act effectively.
Citizens’ assemblies
One way to address this gap is to allow citizens’ participation in the elaboration and implementation of climate policies and measures designed by governments. Instead of having climate policies imposed by technocrats from above, governments should embrace approaches that combine ‘top-down’ with ‘bottom-up’ methods, with the latter bringing together ordinary people who are tasked with shaping a shared vision of the future.
Successful examples of those participatory methods already exist. Citizens’ assemblies in France are decision-making bodies composed of randomly selected, demographically representative individuals who deliberate on a specific issue of public concern and provide policy recommendations.
In addition to fostering consensus on divisive topics, citizens’ assemblies educate the public about complex policy issues and give citizens a direct role in decisions that affect their lives. These elements are especially important for issues such as the net-zero transition, which entails major economic changes that can leave communities feeling divided. Unlike politicians, assembly members make decisions free from electoral pressures and lobbying. Notable examples include Ireland’s assemblies on marriage equality and abortion, which led to national referenda and breakthrough legislation, and France’s climate assembly, which helped shape its most ambitious climate bill to date.
Participatory approach
Brazil’s long standing participatory approach to policy-making has also proved successful. For example, its Climate Plan is being developed through a governance structure that includes several ministries of the federal government together with representatives from the scientific community, subnational governments, the private sector and civil society.
Moreover, a climate participatory platform (involving both digital and in-person exchanges) has been launched to invite all Brazilian citizens to propose solutions. The National Environmental Conference and the National Social and Economic Development Council, by prioritising the Climate Plan, have further contributed to strengthening this bottom-up process.
Such methods can steer climate policy proposals away from sources of polarisation and toward opportunities for collaboration and deliberation. Among G20 countries, 62 per cent of people favour using citizens’ assemblies for decision-making; that number has risen above 70 per cent in countries such as Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa, and to over 80 per cent in Kenya. More than 170 citizens’ assemblies have been held in more than 30 countries, each with the goal of accelerating climate action in ways that support a fair and just transition for all.
New social contract
Drawing on the model of the World Social Forum, what we need now is a Global Social-Climate Forum, or a Global Citizens’ Assembly for People and Planet, to bring citizens together from every country—not just to chart a collective path forward but to reimagine our politics and encourage a global ethical stocktake. This would be an opportunity for humanity to come together, to understand one another’s aspirations and anxieties and to co-create a green transition that benefits everyone. Rather than leaving anyone behind, we can forge a new social contract rooted in solidarity, equity and fairness.
In 2015, France and Peru established a new mechanism, the Action Agenda, because they recognised that the scale of change needed to tackle the climate crisis required more than just government action. It also depends on the wealth of ideas that civil society—including businesses, cities and communities—has to offer.
As countries prepare to announce their next climate commitments in 2025, we must acknowledge the critical role that ordinary citizens have to play, individually and collectively, in addressing the climate crisis. At COP30 in November next year and beyond, we must provide a dedicated space to hear every voice and to ensure that the transition is not only fast but fair. Failing that, we will not achieve our common goals. That is why Brazil is committed to making COP30 the people’s COP and to giving every person on Earth the opportunity to participate in shaping our common future.
Republication forbidden—copyright Project Syndicate 2024, ‘The case for a global climate assembly’
Laurence Tubiana, a former French ambassador to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is chief executive of the European Climate Foundation and a professor at Sciences Po, Paris.
Ana Toni is national secretary for climate change at the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change of Brazil.