Climate power to the people

It will be a fascinating study in environmental politics, but what could Climate Assembly UK mean for utilities?

In November, while most attention was focused on the looming general election, 30,000 invitation letters were starting to drop on to random doormats throughout Britain. They invited people to apply to come together in a citizens’ assembly on climate change, to help shape how the country can best meet its net zero target and what role the public could play.

Since then, we may have had clarity on the election but concerns about addressing the climate emergency continue to rise.

It means the assembly, commissioned by six cross-party House of Commons Select Committees, has a big remit – although it will have a raft of stakeholder expertise to call on, including academics, environmentalists and selected business figures. An advisory panel, featuring representatives from the utilities sector, will also offer feedback.

Yet despite this impressive arsenal, the jury is out on how successful a climate assembly will be.

The naysayers have already dismissed the scheme as window dressing, pointing to how its advisory status could see its findings effectively ignored.

Others say that by asking the public to sketch a roadmap for net zero, politicians have, shamelessly, dodged the job.

And there is the wider argument that this is the wrong vehicle altogether. In many ways, climate change is nothing like as divisive as other issues that have gone down a citizens’ assembly route in other countries, such as abortion law or marriage equality.

But politicians know it would be reckless to ignore the popular view, as also do utilities. Industry is acutely aware that legitimacy and public trust have become the new watchwords for the sector.

And it goes deeper than regulation and customer service. A company’s environmental, social and governance credentials can now be the difference between attracting millions in investment, or not.

The assembly timescale certainly suggests it means business, with all four gatherings planned before the end of March.

There is no doubt that achieving a national, representative consensus on the principles that should underpin climate change policy could prove critical for ensuring the scale of public buy-in required.

Government – and utilities – would also welcome a clear indication of the types of action people would support.

Time will tell if this has been a glorified public consultation, although harnessing such vital engagement and insight should not be undervalued.