Proposals for a standing, lottery-selected assembly representing the world's population. The 2021 Global Assembly, held around COP26, was the first pilot; a permanent Global Citizens' Assembly has been under construction since 2024.
Scholars such as John Dryzek have argued for deliberative global citizens' assemblies. In 2021 a civil-society coalition, co-initiated by i4Policy, Deliberativa and Iswe, ran the Global Assembly: 100 members drawn by a two-stage lottery deliberated online for 68 hours and produced a People's Declaration, presented at COP26 on 1 November 2021. It had no binding power. In September 2024 Iswe and partners launched a Global Citizens' Assembly for People and Planet, with a core assembly and community assemblies, linked to COP30. No treaty or state has created a permanent body.
One completed pilot (2021) and an ongoing effort to establish a permanent assembly with a Citizens' Track at COP30. It has advisory influence only.
The 2021 Global Assembly, run by a consortium of Iswe, i4Policy and Deliberativa, chose 100 members by a two-stage global lottery; they met online for 68 hours (7 October–18 December 2021) and wrote a People's Declaration presented at COP26.[1][2][3]
The Global Assembly had no institutional mandate or binding power; its organisers' report says it was a prototyping year and that formal influence would need changes to policy-making structures.[1]
Iswe and partners launched a Global Citizens' Assembly for People and Planet in September 2024 (core assembly of 100–300 plus community assemblies, aiming at 10 million annual participants by 2030); the COP30 Presidency announced a Citizens' Track in November 2025.[1][2]