Professor Graham Smith has used his world-leading expertise in citizens’ assemblies to tackle climate change.
Professor Graham Smith is an internationally recognised expert in the study of democratic innovations – essentially new ways to engage citizens in political decision-making.
Smith was named, in 2021, one of the Top 100 Most Influential Academics in Government by Apolitical – a global platform for governments that highlights the experts and partners that can help them solve the hardest challenges facing our societies.
One of the central messages of Professor Smith’s work over recent years has been the central role citizens’ assemblies (CAs) have to play in the fight against climate change.
CAs bring together a randomly selected group of between 50 to 150 citizens to learn, discuss and come to judgements on a pressing political issue.
They give a voice to people outside the political establishment who are unconcerned with winning elections; they give a voice to people from all sections of society – including those most affected by climate change.
Because of this, CAs could be critical in breaking the political deadlock which stands in the way of meaningful climate action.
The Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies
Climate assemblies are increasingly being used across many European countries, and at different levels of government, to inform policy responses and social action on climate change.
Reflecting his position as a leading expert in the field, and a pioneering voice on the use of CAs in forming climate policy, Professor Smith was appointed Founding Chair of the European Climate Foundation’s Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies (KNOCA) in 2021.
When it came to identifying the right person to chair KNOCA, every avenue we explored seemed somehow to bring us to Professor Graham Smith of the University of Westminster.
- Erica Hope, Director of the European Climate Foundation’s initiative on Climate Planning and Laws
Within a year of its founding, the network had over 500 members, including policymakers, academics, practitioners, assembly members and civil society actors.
Utilising the range of voices in this network, KNOCA has been documenting current climate assembly practice, identifying and disseminating best practice for impact, and shaping future trends in collaboration with network members.
Smith has led on these activities by devising international learning calls, workshops, and the writing and commissioning of guidance on good practice in CAs.
In addition, Smith has also led closed events for public officials considering organising CAs, and civil society organisations seeking to develop strategies for proposed or ongoing assemblies.
This work builds towards achieving the key objective of KNOCA, as stated by Hope: “The European Climate Foundation believes that the transition to climate neutrality will only be possible if citizens understand the need for it, the solutions available, and are engaged in shaping how it will happen”.
Find out more about this network on the KNOCA website.
From Brexit to climate change
Professor Smith was influential in the emergence of the Climate Assembly UK in 2020 – arguably the most ambitious citizens’ assembly to have taken place in the UK to date.
Back in 2017, Smith was one of the organisers of the pilot Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit (CAB), which played a critical role in the growth of citizens’ assemblies in the UK, both nationally and locally.
Taking place in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, CAB asked its participants to consider the UK’s trading relationship with the EU and its future migration policy.
Organised by Smith, colleagues at University College London, and participation charity Involve, the success of the CAB offered a “proof of concept” for the broader adoption of CAs.
Without Smith’s contribution, “we wouldn’t be anywhere near the conversations we are now having on new forms of deliberative democracy,” says Neal Lawson, Executive Director of leading UK political think tank, Compass.
In the wake of the CAB’s success, two select committees commissioned the Citizens’ Assembly on Social Care, followed by six Select Committees of the House of Commons commissioning the Climate Assembly UK (CAUK) in June 2019.
“There is a clear chain from the Brexit one happening to the social care one happening and being possible,” says Tim Hughes, Director of Involve. “The climate one wouldn’t be happening without the social care one.”
The CAUK integrated an attitudinal criterion (concern about climate change) into its recruitment process, which directly followed the CAB model, and Smith’s advice on organising the CAUK into workstreams to deal with the complexity of climate policy was also adopted.
Published in September 2020, the CAUK’s recommendations received significant media coverage and were used by the UK Committee on Climate Change to shape its Sixth Carbon Budget, launched three months later.
Skilling up Extinction Rebellion on citizens’ assemblies
One of Extinction Rebellion’s (XR) central demands is the establishment of a dedicated national citizens’ assembly to address the climate emergency.
Due to his reputation in the field, XR approached Professor Smith for advice on what this might mean in practice.
Smith’s ongoing support to XR has included organising three days of design workshops for the group at the University of Westminster, in 2019. These workshops brought together practitioners and academics to help build the activists’ capacity on the issue.
Before these workshops I don't think any of us had any idea of how in practice the CA for Climate and Ecological Justice was going to work. It gave us the knowledge and confidence we needed to properly communicate with a wider audience about citizens' assemblies.
- A member of the XR Citizens’ Assembly (XRCA)
This strengthening of their knowledge has enabled XR activists to advocate more effectively in their dealings with MPs, including Michael Gove, the then Secretary of State for the Environment.
In one XR activist’s words, Smith gave them “an understanding of design so as a group we could make critical comments on the climate assemblies that have ensued, at both local and national levels”.
Smith does not advocate for CAs at any cost, however, and – in this context – he was influential in persuading XR not to rush into running its own citizens’ assembly as part of its International Rebellion in April 2019.
As he explained to group leaders, this could present CAs as a campaigning tool rather than a democratic process, which, as one XR member puts it, would “discredit” the idea.
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