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Canada's and the have galvanized Western public attention to the climate crisis like never before.

The message is stark.

If we fail to rein in global warming below the 1.5 C threshold, impacts on humans and the natural environment are as extreme weather events overlap with increased frequency. What is needed, according to the , is an urgent, integrated effort to reduce carbon emissions while adapting to the impacts of climate change.

Unfortunately, Canada has to make a significant contribution to this broader effort. And this failure is due, in no small part to political polarization and a corresponding inability of governments to follow through on high-level commitments. We argue that can be a powerful tool in moving past these limitations and driving meaningful action on climate policy, if designed and executed thoughtfully.

Canada and the climate crisis

Canada's contributions to tackling climate change . Although overall emissions are beginning to trend downward, Canada's current policies—even if fully implemented—are consistent with a 4 C warming scenario, which is far beyond the recommended 1.5 C scenario.

The challenges of climate policy are exacerbated by Canada's political context as an oil and gas producing country. Indeed, many Canadians are when it comes to key tensions concerning economic and climate policy, including when it comes to phasing out oil and gas, and how it relates to Canada's future economy.

Additionally, when it comes to climate policy, many Canadians in their provincial and federal governments, that sufficient progress will be made in the near future.

Climate assemblies

are part of a broader family of democratic innovations referred to as "deliberative mini-publics." They gather a representative slice of a given population selected through a lottery to study, deliberate and make recommendations about a specific climate-related topic.

Climate assemblies have been used in many jurisdictions, .

For example, brought together 106 individuals from 2020-21 to deliberate about how Scotland could address the climate emergency in an equitable and effective manner. Participants generated 81 recommendations that included introducing carbon land taxes to eliminating frequent flyer bonuses.

Climate assemblies' distinctive blend of characteristics over other political institutions. With lottery selection, participants are less likely to represent political or special interests, enabling them to be more impartial and adopt a longer-term perspective that takes account of future generations.

By learning from each other, and from experts and stakeholders, participants develop more nuanced understandings of scientific and broader public perspectives that they can incorporate into their recommendations.

Bodies like climate assemblies are among the on highly charged topics, and public engagement with their outputs can boost trust in other political institutions. When they are used as part of policymaking processes, people see those processes and are more inclined to accept outcomes that are undesirable to them.

Climate assemblies can have many positive outcomes. They can be a by improving political engagement, adding to knowledge and encouraging positive behavioral changes. The than those advanced by governments and attract a .

Unfortunately, not all climate assemblies to date on policy and broader public engagement. However, recent research by the Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies has aimed at making climate assemblies more impactful.

These include improving communications with the broader public, integrating the assembly and its outputs into the appropriate policymaking process, and selecting tasks aligned with the strengths of climate assemblies.

Leveraging climate assemblies in Canada

While Canada has a rich tradition of employing public assemblies on topics like , climate assemblies have not yet garnered much use. Important exceptions are the assemblies that were part of the Alberta Climate Dialogue initiative, including the .

Canadian governments at all levels could use climate assemblies to , from providing advice on specific policy proposals to holding policymakers to account. We propose two key functions for Canadian climate assemblies.

First, they could be used to advise on the development and implementation of municipal climate strategies. Municipalities in Canada face to implementing Canada's climate commitments. This is despite the important role they play in decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to extreme weather events.

Indeed, some have argued that climate change policies should "" from local governments, who are less constrained by political factors and freer to experiment with innovative solutions, rather than "trickle down" from other levels of government. For example, municipal governments could use climate assemblies to assess local impacts of different climate change scenarios and .

Second, climate assemblies can be used to hold policymakers and politicians to account. A lack of sufficient transparency and accountability are long-standing challenges at the provincial and federal levels due to deficiencies in their . Climate assemblies could be tasked with scrutinizing missed climate targets and critically appraising proposed remedial actions.

For example, at the federal level, climate assemblies could complement the work of the recently created , whose responsibilities include advising the government in its ongoing efforts to reach net-zero by 2050 and engaging the broader public.

Climate assemblies—when designed and used effectively—can be a powerful tool to help Canadian governments break free of the inertia that has plagued climate policy for too long.

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