We are pleased to announce the release of a new report examining how citizens’ deliberative forums can contribute to addressing the environmental crisis and revitalising representative democracy. Produced by the University of Exeter research group, the report summarises the key themes emerging from a two-day workshop on climate deliberation.
The report addresses a pressing question: Can public deliberation help address the environmental crisis? More broadly, it considers how mini-publics, climate assemblies and other forms of community deliberation might be integrated into representative systems to enhance political legitimacy, support better-informed policy decisions and help remedy democratic disconnect.
Drawing on contributions from academics and practitioners with hands-on experience in designing, organising or evaluating deliberative forums, the report maps the landscape of climate deliberation today. It highlights the diversity of formats, ranging from national citizens’ assemblies to local community initiatives, led by public bodies, non-profit organisations and civic actors.
The workshop and resulting report pursued several core objectives: fostering dialogue among political representatives, administrators, activists and researchers; strengthening connections between these communities; generating bottom-up strategies for democratic engagement in environmental politics; advancing thinking on varieties of public deliberation; and exploring how deliberative forums might be embedded within systems of representative politics.
Together, these reflections help situate climate deliberation within wider debates on the renewal of democratic institutions. As the report shows, environmental governance is not only a policy challenge but also a democratic one, raising questions about participation, legitimacy and representation in a time of accelerating climate risk.
The report is now available!
Date: 26 January 2026
Location: Exeter, United Kingdom
Partner: University of Exeter (UNIEXETER)
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