Scotland's Climate Assembly

7-8 November 2020  First meeting of the Assembly

‘How should Scotland change to tackle the climate emergency in an effective and fair way?’

On the 7th & 8th November, Scotland’s Climate Assembly hosted Members at the first Assembly meeting. Members from age 16 to 82 joined experts and facilitators online to tackle the question with which they have been tasked. 

Weekend 5 - Scotland's Climate Change Plan

Members met on the 20th and 21st February for weekend five, to review the evidence and ask their final questions before they come back together in Weekend Six.

There were new inputs to help Members clarify that evidence: Chris Stark of the Climate Change Committee talked about costs and ambitions on the path to Net Zero. On Sunday Fabrice Leveque, representing the Climate Emergency Response Group, reviewed the Climate Change Plan update. Both sessions were followed by Q&As, giving Members the chance to grill the experts on their evidence.

On the morning of each day, Members took part in an 'information carousel', in which small groups had time with a rotating series of experts in order to ask questions and test ideas. The high-speed session left experts reeling and members invigorated.

All presentations made to the Assembly can be found on our website and YouTube channel; you can find all plenary sessions and reflections from Members in the same place.  Hear the evidence, just as it was presented to the Assembly. 

Weekend five      20 & 21 February
Programme, report and video links.

Weekend four      23 & 24 January
Programme, report and video links.

Weekend 3 report and video links

Weekend 2 report and video links

Weekend 1 report and video links

All videos  (Scroll down for weekend 1)

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The setting up of a citizens' Climate Assembly for Scotland, as required by the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019, began in September 2020 with the selection of 100 individuals as Assembly members to provide a representative sample of all sections of the population.  -   'A number of criteria will be used during the selection process including age, gender, ethnicity, disability, geography, rurality, household income, and attitude towards climate change.'

Meetings will be held, initially online, over six weekends from November 2020 to March 2021. The Assembly's deliberations will be guided by the question
'How should Scotland change to tackle the climate emergency in an effective and fair way?'

Public consultation in the form of an 'ideas forum' ran from 9 to 26 October (it seems with very little publicity and limited response), and the forum 'results' are available in a rather confusing format  here  (filter by highest rated or most comments).  It is not clear if there will be any further public consultation.

More information is available on the Assembly's website at  https://www.climateassembly.scot/