Scotland's Climate Assembly - process, impact and assembly member experience: research report

Footnotes

1 105 members were initially recruited. 11 withdrew in the early stages and 12 were added.

2 Scottish Government response to Scotland’s Climate Assembly recommendations for action https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-response-scotlands-climate-assembly-recommendations-action/

3 A ‘deliberative process’ is an inclusive process that considers a range of perspectives in a reasoned and respectful manner.

4 The final Assembly meeting, Weekend 8, held in February 2022 was attended by only 73 members, of whom 70% completed the member survey. The survey results are treated with caution in this report.

5 Scottish Approach to Service Design https://www.gov.scot/publications/the-scottish-approach-to-service-design/

6 National Performance Framework https://nationalperformance.gov.scot/

7 Scottish Government’s public service reform approach to improve public services https://www.gov.scot/policies/improving-public-services/

8 See Full Report 2.3.1 Planning the Assembly (footnotes 42 & 43).

9 Evaluation of Climate Assembly UK https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/get-involved2/climate-assembly-uk/evaluation-of-climate-assembly-uk.pdf

10 Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport to UK Government regarding Scotland’s Climate Assembly https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-climate-assembly-letter-from-cabinet-secretary-for-net-zero-energy-and-transport-to-uk-government/

11 Scotland’s Climate Assembly operations and administration arrangements https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-climate-assembly-operations-administration-arrangements/

12 OECD (2021).

13 Scotland’s Climate Assembly website https://www.climateassembly.scot/

14 Curato et al (2021).

15 The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2019/15/section/9/enacted

16 Scotland’s Climate Assembly operations and administration arrangements https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-climate-assembly-operations-administration-arrangements/

Memorandum of Understanding between Scottish Government Climate Change Division and the Secretariat for Scotland’s Climate Assembly https://www.climateassembly.scot/sites/default/files/inline-files/MoU.pdf

17 105 members were initially recruited. 11 withdrew in the early stages and 12 were added.

18 Scotland’s Climate Assembly website - recruitment process https://www.climateassembly.scot/how-it-works/how-are-members-selected

19 There were initially 6 weekends planned with the option for a 7th. Members voted for this option in Weekend 4.

20 Scotland’s Climate Assembly operations and administration arrangements https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-climate-assembly-operations-administration-arrangements/

21 Shaw, Wang & Latter (2021); Capstick et al (2020); Nisbet (2009).

22 Scotland’s Climate Assembly website - overview of agenda for each weekend https://www.climateassembly.scot/meetings

23 The report can be downloaded here https://www.climateassembly.scot/full-report

24 Children's Parliament is Scotland’s centre of excellence for children’s human rights, participation and engagement. Children’s Parliament worked with 100 children from 10 schools to explore their views and ideas on how to tackle climate change in Scotland. 12 children were appointed as 'Investigators' to analyse the views of their peers and to further explore the themes. The Investigators created a series of Calls to Action, which the wider group voted on. For more information see Scotland’s Climate Assembly website https://www.climateassembly.scot/childrens-parliament

25 Scottish Government response to Scotland’s Climate Assembly recommendations for action https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-response-scotlands-climate-assembly-recommendations-action/

26 A ‘deliberative process’ is an inclusive process that considers a range of perspectives in a reasoned and respectful manner.

27 Escobar & Thompson (2019).

28 An in-depth analysis of governance arrangements would involve substantial data analysis on every aspect of governance and an evaluation of its effectiveness. This was outwith the scope of this research.

29 A noted in 1.3.4, interviewees and survey respondents from the Stewarding Group, the Secretariat, the Design team and the Evidence Group are collectively referred to ‘Organising members’ to protect anonymity, although in some instances where appropriate, Evidence Group membership is identified.

30 This was commissioned via a separate contract.

31 Scotland’s Climate Assembly operations and administration arrangements https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-climate-assembly-operations-administration-arrangements/

32 The Assembly received evidence from the Climate Emergency Response Group on the Scottish Government Climate Change Plan update to help them consider current government policy. However, the Assembly Report does not include a review or critique of government policy.

33 Article about Extinction Rebellion leaving the Stewarding Group https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-11-05/if-citizens-assemblies-are-the-way-forward-why-is-xr-no-longer-endorsing-the-scottish-governments-climate-citizens-assembly/

34 One member of the Evidence Group is also part of Forum for the Future.

35 YouTube video of video presentation explaining how change happens https://youtu.be/Du1Sq_baYbI

36 Scotland’s Climate Assembly website with video and transcript on effective change https://www.climateassembly.scot/assembly-meetings/meeting-three

37 Scotland’s Climate Assembly website with videos and transcripts of the 4 scenarios https://www.climateassembly.scot/assembly-meetings/meeting-three. See also Assembly Report p29.

38 See page 8-11 of the report https://www.climateassembly.scot/full-report

39 Transformational change is defined in this research as fundamental changes to the attributes of existing systems or that create new systems, likely to involve reassessing values, identities, beliefs and assumptions; and challenging or disrupting existing structures including power structures.

40 Incremental change is defined as relating to small steps to improve an existing structure, slow advances or small impacts. The change maintains the essence and integrity of a system or process at a given scale.

41 A co-designed process would involve iterative design between organisers with the various groups involved shaping the Assembly process and agreeing on key design decisions.

42 According to the Climate Change Act, the Assembly was expected to lay its report before Parliament by 28 February 2021. However, the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act of 2020 amended the Climate Change Act to allow that if the Assembly was delayed for a reason relating to Coronavirus, it should lay its report as soon as reasonably practicable after that date.

43 Under normal circumstances the pre-election period would have started on 25 March 2021. The Scottish General Election (Coronavirus) Act 2021 delayed dissolution of Parliament until May 5, the day before the election.

44 According to Self-Determination Theory, competency is a basic psychological need. Deci & Ryan (2000).

45 See section 3.1.4 Developing the outputs for more on members’ experience and sense of ownership of developing the outputs.

46 Informants were considered to be more ‘neutral’ speakers, while advocates were encouraged to explicitly take a position. However, there is an argument that there are no “neutral” ways of communicating about climate change. See Shaw, Wang, & Latter (2021); Capstick et al (2020); Nisbet (2009).

47 Roberts et al (2020).

48 Mentimeter is an interactive digital platform which uses live polls, quizzes and Q&As to involve an audience in real time.

49 Jamboard is a digital whiteboard which allows users to collaborate in real time. It was used by facilitators in small group discussions. Assembly Members posted their ideas onto the board.

50 Rosenberg (2014).

51 Evaluation of Climate Assembly UK https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/get-involved2/climate-assembly-uk/evaluation-of-climate-assembly-uk.pdf

52 See 4.1.3 Recommendations for results of members votes for recommendations.

53 Tajfel & Turner (1986).

54 Onboarding was initially meant to be delivered by the team who delivered the Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland but due to Covid-19, this was no longer possible.

55 ‘Emotional labour’ refers to the process of managing and expressing feelings in the workplace to fulfil the emotional requirements of a job.

56 These presentations can be viewed on the Assembly website and YouTube channel.

57 Escobar (2011).

58 Elstub et al (2021); Elstub et al (2022).

59 Inferior justification: where a reason is given but no explicit link between the reason and the demand.

60 Qualified justification: where an explicit link is made between reason and demand.

61 Scotland’s Climate Assembly operations and administration arrangements https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-climate-assembly-operations-administration-arrangements/

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

63 As noted in 2.4.3 Interaction between experts and Assembly members, Evidence Group members also provided some feedback on Weekend 3 and 4 outputs.

64 Children's Parliament is Scotland’s centre of excellence for children’s human rights, participation and engagement. Children’s Parliament worked with 100 children from 10 schools to explore their views and ideas on how to tackle climate change in Scotland. 12 children were appointed as 'Investigators' to analyse the views of their peers and to further explore the themes. The Investigators created a series of Calls to Action, which the wider group voted on. For more information see Scotland’s Climate Assembly website https://www.climateassembly.scot/childrens-parliament

65 View Weekend 1 here https://www.climateassembly.scot/node/157; view Weekend 2 here https://www.climateassembly.scot/node/126

66 View Weekend 6 here https://www.climateassembly.scot/node/244

67 Weekend 8 was attended by 73 members, of whom 70% completed the member survey.

68 The Scottish Government response was published 16 December 2021.

69 Weekend 3 was the first weekend when members were in topic streams. They were presented with the 4 scenarios (see 2.2.2 Systemic approach) and explored challenges and began to draft provisional recommendations.

70 YouGov survey 2021 also finds 68% of the UK population ‘very’ or ‘fairly worried’ about climate change, rising to 72% for Scotland sample. The One Pulse (The Scotsman) survey 2020 found 72% were worried about how climate change would affect their children and grandchildren. See Appendix 1 for details on these surveys.

71 8% affected to ‘a great extent’, 18% affected ‘somewhat’, 29% affected ‘a little’. Base: 5527 adults.

72 Andrews (2022).

73 Deltapoll population survey also included a ‘don’t know’ option as an answer which received 3% of the responses.

74 The Scotland sample of the CAUK population survey: 34% self-rated their knowledge at 7 or higher (base: 149). This indicates Scotland and UK populations are similar.

75 These changes have not been tested for statistical significance.

76 See Appendix 1 Methodology, for secondary data survey details including sample size.

77 105 members were recruited in September/October 2020, the pre-Assembly survey was conducted end October to early November 2020 and completed by 68 members.

78 Table 3.2 shows only some response options. For the full results see accompanying data tables.

79 A different methodology was used for the Scottish Household Survey 2020 due to Covid restrictions, and results are therefore not directly comparable to previous years.

80 Scottish sample only (base: 165).

81 The RESiL RISK survey 2019 found 14% thought there was no such thing, or that climate change is entirely or mainly natural processes.

82 In the Deltapoll survey 4% were ‘not convinced’. Scottish Household Survey 2019 found 6% ‘not convinced’, Ipsos MORI Scotland 2020 found 5% ‘not convinced’.

83 The Deltapoll population survey also included ‘local government’ in the question.

84 The pronoun ‘we’ is likely to be interpreted by respondents as ‘us in Scotland’.

85 Ipsos MORI Scotland research into public attitudes to climate change policy and a green recovery Research into public attitudes to climate change policy and a green recovery (www.gov.scot)

86 Only 73 Assembly members attended Weekend 8. Of these, 51 completed the survey (70% response rate).

87 Levels of flying reduced over the Assembly period due to Covid restrictions, so this result should be treated with caution.

88 Almost never: once or twice; Not very often: every month or so; Somewhat often: every week or so; Very often: every few days or every day.

89 For example see Osbaldiston & Sheldon (2003); Pelletier (2002).

90 The full Deltapoll results are available in the Data Tables accompanying this research report.

91 Scotland’s Climate Assembly full report https://www.climateassembly.scot/full-report

92 The percentage of those who agreed (out of all those who agreed or disagreed) for each recommendation is included in the Assembly Report. The percentage included here are based on all responses including abstain. It is not possible to show the percentage of members who voted for all, most, some, a few or none or the recommendations due to the nature of the dataset provided to the researchers.

93 For full results including percentages see Data tables published alongside this report.

94 ‘Businesses and government to adopt a measurement framework for success that incorporates sustainability, well-being and happiness alongside profit’.

95 As stated earlier, due to lower numbers of attendees at Weekend 8 and a smaller survey sample size, this result should be treated with caution.

96 based on 2020 income.

97 Scottish Government response to Scotland’s Climate Assembly recommendations for actions https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-response-scotlands-climate-assembly-recommendations-action/ published 16 Dec 2021. See section 1.2 for background information.

98 Scotland’s Climate Assembly website - Weekend 8 agenda https://www.climateassembly.scot/assembly-meetings/meeting-eight

99 Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport to UK Government on Scotland’s Climate Assembly https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-climate-assembly-letter-from-cabinet-secretary-for-net-zero-energy-and-transport-to-uk-government/

100 Scotland’s Climate Assembly website - Weekend 8 agenda https://www.climateassembly.scot/assembly-meetings/meeting-eight

101 Scottish Government Just Transition Commission https://www.gov.scot/publications/transition-commission-national-mission-fairer-greener-scotland/

102 Cooperation Agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party Parliamentary Group https://www.gov.scot/publications/cooperation-agreement-between-scottish-government-scottish-green-party-parliamentary-group/

103 Scottish Government Programme for Government 2021-2022 https://www.gov.scot/publications/fairer-greener-scotland-programme-government-2021-22/

104 Scottish Government Covid Recovery Strategy https://www.gov.scot/publications/covid-recovery-strategy-fairer-future/

105 Scottish Government Heat in Buildings Strategy https://www.gov.scot/publications/heat-buildings-strategy-achieving-net-zero-emissions-scotlands-buildings/

106 Scottish Government public sector guidance on leadership on the global climate emergency https://www.gov.scot/publications/public-sector-leadership-global-climate-emergency/

107 Scottish Government draft guidance on Single-Use Plastic Regulations https://www.gov.scot/publications/single-use-plastics-regulations-draft-guidance-document/pages/2

108 Scottish Government Budget Statement 2022-23 https://www.gov.scot/publications/budget-statement-2022-23/

109 Transport Scotland’s route map for reducing car use https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/50872/a-route-map-to-achieve-a-20-per-cent-reduction-in-car-kms-by-2030.pdf

110 Weekend 8 was attended by 73 (out of 106) members, of whom 51 (70%) completed the survey.

111 The Civic Charter was conceived by the Assembly Secretariat and launched in October 2021. The Charter expresses support for the Assembly and its recommendations and calls for immediate action from all sectors of society. To date it has been signed by 82 organisations and 50 individuals including Evidence Group and Stewarding Group members and Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). See https://www.climateassembly.scot/civiccharter

112 Media coverage after this date is outwith the scope of this report.

113 For details of methodology see Appendix 1.

114 COP26: the 26^th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties , held in Glasgow 31 October – 13 November 2021.

115 See Elstub et al (2022). Unlike the Climate Assembly media analysis, the Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland media analysis covered the period after the assembly report was discussed in Parliament. However, this accounted for only 3% of the total coverage.

116 The response was discussed on 1 March 2022 in Parliament and by the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee. This date is outside the timescale of this media analysis.

117 Elstub et al (2021).

118 Scotland’s Climate Assembly Interim Report https://www.climateassembly.scot/interim-report

119 Due to the new variant Omicron.

120 Elstub et al (2021).

121 See accompanying Data Tables and Appendix 1 for a list of all outlets.

122 Elstub et al (2022).

123 This is similar to the media coverage of the Citizens Assembly of Scotland, where 51% were generally positive and 35% were generally neutral. See Elstub et al (2022).

124 Elstub et al (2022); Elstub et al (2021).

125 Discussions of democracy included: critiques of traditional politics; discussions of the potential benefits of participatory democracy; and specific references to processes of deliberative democracy such as citizens assemblies.

126 See the Assembly Report for more details on the content of the Statement of Ambition https://www.climateassembly.scot/full-report

127 Although there was one article written by an Assembly organiser that covered all goals.

128 Not including the article from an Assembly organiser that praised all the goals.

129 See the Assembly Report for more details on the content of these goals https://www.climateassembly.scot/full-report

130 See the Assembly Report for more details on the content of the recommendations https://www.climateassembly.scot/full-report

131 Discussed on 1 March 2022 in Parliament and by the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee.

132 Scottish Approach to Service Design https://www.gov.scot/publications/the-scottish-approach-to-service-design/

133 National Performance Framework https://nationalperformance.gov.scot/

134 Scottish Government’s public service reform approach to improving public services https://www.gov.scot/policies/improving-public-services/

135 See 2.3.1 Planning the Assembly (footnotes 42 & 43).

136 Evaluation of Climate Assembly UK https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/get-involved2/climate-assembly-uk/evaluation-of-climate-assembly-uk.pdf

137 Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport to UK Government regarding Scotland’s Climate Assembly https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-climate-assembly-letter-from-cabinet-secretary-for-net-zero-energy-and-transport-to-uk-government/

138 Scotland’s Climate Assembly operations and administration arrangements https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-climate-assembly-operations-administration-arrangements/

139 OECD (2021).

140 Data Briefings for Weekends 1, 4 and 7 are published on Scotland’s Climate Assembly website https://www.climateassembly.scot/how-it-works/independent-research

141 Steenbergen et al (2003).

142 Clarke, Braun, & Hayfield (2015).

143 A full explanation of the scientific basis for IRT can be found at https://icodert.com, For an overview of the science and published academic literature see http://gemmacalvert.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-implicit-reaction-time/

144 See Kahneman (2011).