Citizens climate assembly panels finalised

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The assembly, which kicks off the first of its four meetings in Birmingham later this month, is designed to bring together a group of people who reflect the broader population to deliberate on how to achieve the UK’s 2050 net-zero target. The initiative has been organised by six of the House of Commons’ select committees.

The 110 assembly members will consider how net-zero can be achieved by 2050 and make recommendations on what the government, businesses, the public and wider UK society should do to reduce carbon emissions.

To assist the assembly members, two panels of stakeholders and researchers have been announced.

The advisory panel will offer feedback to the assembly’s expert leads, who have already been appointed, on key aspects of its design, like who is invited to speak, the topics of discussion, and the balance of information provided.

Industry figures on the advisory panel include acting Energy UK chief executive Audrey Gallacher and RenewableUK’s head of policy and regulation Rebecca Williams. 

The broader business community is represented by the Confederation of British Industry’s senior policy adviser on energy and climate change Tanisha Beebe, and consumers by Dhara Vyas, head of future energy services at Citizens Advice.

Environmentalists on the panel include Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace and Chaitanya Kumar, senior policy adviser at Green Alliance.

The 13-member academic panel is made up of researchers working on areas of climate change, who will review written briefings for assembly members and to support the expert leads in their role.

The four expert leads, who were announced last year, are Chris Stark, chief executive of the Committee of Climate Change; Jim Watson, professor of energy policy at University College London; Lorraine Whitmarsh, director of the UK Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations and Professor Rebecca Willis of Lancaster University, who specialises in energy and climate governance.

Exciting news. The UK Climate Assembly, commissioned by six Parliamentary Select Committees, begins later this month. It will help us understand the public preferences for the steps to Net Zero.

I’ve helped to design it, with some really brilliant people.https://t.co/4wqAsXqWXM https://t.co/kuwdZaZFKY

— Chris Stark (@ChiefExecCCC) January 9, 2020

The first of the four assemblies, which will all take place in Birmingham before the end of March, is being held on the weekend beginning on 24 January. 

David Blackman

This article first appeared on edie’s sister title, Utility Week