Global Citizens' Assemblies

As complex and diverse humanity is, certain changes affect us all. This is why we think it is necessary that policy-making instruments at the global level take into account this diversity of the global population. Global Citizens' Assemblies allow for our multitude of perspectives to find their way into global decision-making.

The 2021 Global Assembly gathers people from around the world to deliberate on the climate and ecological crisis. World leaders will hear their recommendations at COP26 and in a final report in March 2022.For the first time, global citizens will have a say on global issues and world leaders will have to listen. A permanent UN Global Citizens' Assembly would ensure that decision-making at the global level takes the diverse backgrounds of and implications for people across the world into account.

COP26 was the 26th "Conference of the Parties" on Climate Change. World leaders gathered in Glasgow in November 2021 to come up with an agreement on how to limit climate change and to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis around the world.

A citizens’ assembly comprises a group of people from different fields and backgrounds who gather together and learn about a certain topic. Subsequently, they discuss it and make proposals for a change to governments and leaders. Members of a citizens’ assembly represent a miniature version of the place in question (e.g. a country), based on demographic criteria such as gender, age, income and education level. That they are representative of society as a whole, allows them to bring in perspectives that are not traditionally heard in politics. This makes assemblies a valuable instrument to map opinions that exist on a certain topic and allow for a fact-informed, depoliticized debate. A citizens' assembly makes recommendations to policy, but they traditionally do not have decision-making power. The decision-making power in democracies ultimately always lies with the people – all of the people. So for a citizens’ assembly’s recommendations to be implemented they need to be confirmed and adopted, either by the elected representative of the people or by the people themselves by means of a referendum.

The 2021 Global Assembly consists of: a 100-person Core Citizens’ Assembly; local Community Assemblies that anyone can run anywhere; and cultural activities to engage more people. The question of deliberation is: “How can humanity address the climate and ecological crisis in a fair and effective way?”

It consists of 100 people which are proportionally representative and provide a snapshot of the planet's population. First, they learn about and discuss the climate and ecological crisis with each other. Subsequently, they will present their proposals at the UN Climate Conference COP26 in Glasgow (UK) in November 2021. The Core and Community Assemblies’ recommendations will form a report that will be presented to world leaders in March 2022.

How were members chosen?

Global location lottery
Finding community hosts
Recruiting potential participants
Choosing the final participants

Read in detail here

People around the world have the opportunity to gather and create their assemblies, where they can learn, exchange opinions on the topic and report their recommendations later together with the ones of the Core Assembly.

Learn how to plan and run a Community Assembly as well as how to share your results here

Three main objectives of the Global Assembly

Inviting people who are representative of the world's population to form a Core Assembly, deliberate and make recommendations to COP26 on how to tackle the global climate and ecological crisis.
Encourage the formation of Community Assemblies around the world where people with common ideas can connect and carry on a global conversation regarding the climate emergency and how it can be handled effectively and efficiently.
Bring attention to the issue of climate emergency and support the public and organizations to take action.

António Guterres, the UN secretary-general, commented: “Last month I launched Our Common Agenda, a roadmap to begin rebuilding our world and mending trust. The Global Citizens’ Assembly for COP26 is a practical way of showing how we can accelerate action through solidarity and people power. People everywhere want bold, ambitious climate action, and now is the moment for national leaders to stand and deliver.”

The Global Assembly gives local communities the power to share their opinion on the global arena and will lead to better management of the climate crisis.