Director of Shared Future, Peter Bryant, has contributed to a new evaluation report by The Place-Based Climate Action Network and The Economic and Social Research Council, which was launched in June 2023.

Their report chronicles five years of research by PCAN, highlighting key-growth indicators in place-based climate action, and the factors vital for its continued growth, including in local governance and leadership.

Pete wrote on the role of citizen assemblies and the importance of high quality community engagement, based on our experience creating a toolkit funded by PCAN on how to commission climate juries or assemblies. You can download that toolkit from our resources pages.

He reflected on the purpose of climate assemblies and how it connects to local communities, sharing insights around the commitment levels required to fully engage with community-led experimentation, creativity and insight.

Speaking about the project SFCIC worked on, and PCAN’s latest report, Pete says:

“This excellent PCAN report crystallises the vital role of local authorities in addressing the climate emergency. It is also a plea to ‘move from the rhetoric of climate emergency declarations to action with locally supported, evidence based climate action plans’.

Climate Commissions and similar structures provide a vehicle through which the energy and expertise of the public, private and voluntary sector can be mobilised and new forms of local climate governance created.

Meaningful citizen engagement must be at the core of this new governance”.

To download the evaluation report from the PCAN site, use the below link. Pete’s contributions can viewed on page 25.

Download the evaluation report “Enabling Place-Based Climate Action in the UK“.

Download our toolkit written for PCAN on commissioning climate assemblies.