The role of experts in climate assemblies: recruitment and inclusion

Experts often play a crucial role in the governance and delivery of mini-publics like climate assemblies by occupying advisory roles or contributing to the giving and sharing of information and perspectives in order to support assembly participants’ understanding of the issue at hand. While equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) of climate assembly participants is universally paid great attention, we ask: do climate assemblies consider EDI when recruiting and accommodating experts? In this chapter, we theoretically explore why EDI for experts in climate assemblies should be prioritised. We then analyse 23 mini-publics on climate change held in the UK since 2019 and find that there is little to suggest that EDI considerations are taken in practice with respect to the recruitment and inclusion of experts. We outline why this is particularly problematic for assemblies focusing on climate change and offer suggestions for both the practitioner and academic communities.