Practical Workshop on Climate Assemblies: Featuring Local Cases in Japan and the UK

Climate Citizens' Assemblies are anticipated to be one way for various regions and countries to have a broad social consensus on promoting the transition to a decarbonised society. Climate Citizens' Assemblies gather together randomly selected citizens to form a microcosm of society. Assembly members are given balanced information with which to deliberate and formulate policy recommendations. These assemblies have been spreading rapidly in European countries and municipalities since 2019, and have recently been held in Japan, mainly in the Tokyo metropolitan area, after being implemented in Sapporo in 2020.

This workshop invites Professor Stephen Elstub (Newcastle University, UK), who has been deeply involved in organising national and local Climate Citizens' Assemblies as a leading expert in the UK. The workshop will bring together stakeholders involved in the practice and research of Climate Citizens' Assemblies in Japan to share and discuss their experiences. In particular, several representative examples from Japan and the UK will be highlighted, and case studies will be conducted with participants on a wide range of aspects of the effective organisation of Climate Citizens' Assemblies, with the aim of making more progress going forward.

We would like to extend an invitation to attend this workshop to any municipal officials, practitioners in related fields, researchers and other members of the public who may be interested in the organisation and use of Climate Citizens' Assemblies.

This practical workshop is held as part of “Japan-UK Mutual Learning on Climate Assemblies and Climate Democracy”, supported by JSPS KAKENHI (JP23H00526), the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, and the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation.