A Global Citizens’ Assembly could be COP30’s boldest legacy
Brazil has endorsed an innovative way to truly engage people in the politics of climate. The next presidency must keep this alive.
By Marcele Oliveira
When I was 18, taking the bus from my neighborhood in Realengo, Rio de Janeiro, to university, I noticed the stark absence of trees and green spaces. What should have been ordinary public spaces, parks where children could play, didn’t exist. It was a sign that some lives, some communities are systematically excluded from decisions about the world they live in.
This week in Belém, that same feeling of exclusion and frustration spilled onto the streets. For the first time since 2021, thousands protested outside the UN climate talks. Indigenous leaders and activists marched to pounding samba beats. Signs reading ‘the answer is us’ cut through the heat and noise. People weren’t just demanding climate action, they were demanding a voice.
Right now, our societies are being pulled apart by polarization and distrust. This division is stopping us from taking the actions that everyone knows are necessary. The climate crisis doesn’t just demand new technologies but a new kind of politics that can bring people together across divides and give everyone a real voice in our shared future. Facing denial and disinformation will take both courage and strategy.
At the heart of today’s political crisis lies a deep sense of exclusion. Decisions about our lives, our communities, and our planet are too often made behind closed doors by officials that are too often disconnected from our lived experiences. Many people feel that politics happen to them, not with them.
Countless governments and communities around the world have already shown what this looks like in practice. In 2020, the OECD published The Deliberative Wave, documenting how citizen deliberation has helped tackle some of the hardest challenges we face. But that report barely scratched the surface. It overlooked many of the deep participatory traditions across the Global South.
In Brazil, participatory budgeting gives millions a direct say in how public funds are spent, building trust in governments. In Indonesia, the practice of Gotong Royong, mutual cooperation, and Bali’s Subak irrigation cooperatives have sustained social and ecological harmony for centuries. Across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, the Baraza system brings communities together to hold leaders to account in public forums. And today, youth-led initiatives are connecting local solutions to global climate goals through the Mutirão das Juventudes, a platform that maps projects from young people around the world to ensure their voices feed into the broader COP30 Agenda.
These approaches share a deeper understanding of politics, one not built on competition or consensus alone, but on mutual respect and deep listening. When people truly hear one another across differences, new possibilities emerge. For example, the Citizens’ Assembly on abortion in Ireland mobilized participants who began with opposing views (pro-life and pro-choice) and ended up expressing profound respect, even affection, for one another. That process paved the way for historic legislation protecting women’s rights.
COP30 offers a chance to bring this spirit to the global stage. It can be remembered for launching a new kind of politics that connects people who disagree, not to win arguments, but to understand each other’s realities and co-create a transition that works for everyone.
The decisions ahead of us are not simple: How do we extract vital minerals for the green transition without destroying ecosystems or dividing communities? How do we protect forests while supporting the people who live within them? How do we care for workers in high-emitting sectors when their livelihoods are at risk? How do we bring justice, human rights and culture to the center of climate action?
Answering these questions requires more than expert reports or top-down policies, it requires listening to the people most affected. That’s the spirit of the Global Mutirao, a concept from Indigenous peoples of Brazil and put forward by the COP30 presidency: connecting local communities, their concerns and their willingness to act to global decision makers and climate goals.
One example of this approach, endorsed by Brazil, is the Global Citizens’ Assembly, which brings together both local and global assemblies where people can deliberate and share their perspectives, but also take action and request others to act. In the words of Ana Toni, CEO of COP30, “There is no sustainable transition without democracy.” That is why Brazil is committed to making COP30 the People’s COP, and to bring citizen participation into the core of climate negotiations.
Some politicians say we’re “losing the argument” on climate. But that’s simply wrong. Strong and stable majorities across the world support more ambitious climate action. Over 80% of citizens globally say they support stronger measures, and 69% claim they would contribute 1% of their income to address the crisis.
The problem isn’t public apathy but political disconnection. Citizens’ assemblies can help to bridge that gap. That’s why I believe that they could become COP30’s most enduring legacy, a sustained practice that shapes real decisions.
Brazil has endorsed and is supporting this effort, now the challenge is ensuring it continues. We call on the next president to keep this agenda alive and the wider climate community to deepen and widen this approach.
Only then can we stop simply fighting for the planet and start deciding our future together.
Marcele Oliveira is COP30 Presidency Youth Champion and Climate Activist