Reports & briefings
Journal articles
Energy sufficiency, space temperature and public policy, Morley, J., Buildings & Cities, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, p110–125 (2026) DOI: 10.5334/bc.653
Why the promise of green jobs has limited resonance: Industrial attachments in 'net zero' transitions, Lewis, P., Geoforum, Volume 172, (2026) ISSN 0016-7185, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2026.104579.
Fluid hope in a climate emergency: Lessons from an English citizens’ jury. Lewis, P. Environmental Politics, 35(1), 68–89 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2025.2522516
Citizen deliberation in Net Zero governance: learning lessons and looking forward, Ainscough, J., Killeen, L., Lewis, P., Shepherd, A. & Willis, R., Journal of the British Academy, 13(1) (2025): a13 https://doi.org/10.5871/jba/013.a13
Is there a public mandate for restricting advertising of high-carbon products and services?: Citizens’ jury and public polling evidence from the UK, Ainscough, J., Willis R., PLOS Clim 4(9) (2025): e0000599. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000599
From stealth to pragmatism: A telling shift in UK politicians’ views on climate action, Westlake, S., Willis, R., Climatic Change 178, 162 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-025-03987-4
Fluid hope in a climate emergency: Lessons from an English citizens’ jury. Lewis, P., Environmental Politics (2025) 1-22.
Distrust and reflexive impotence in the net zero transition: findings from a longitudinal deliberative mini-public. Ainscough, J. Lewis, P., Farrow, L., Climate Change (2024) 177: 1-20.
Citizens and specialist co-design of energy policy: the case of home energy decarbonization in the UK, Willis, R., Ainscough, J., Bryant, P., Goold, L., Livermore, M., Tosal, C., Environmental Science and Policy (2024): 103706
Re-attaching to coal in a Climate Emergency: The case of the Whitehaven mine. Lewis, P., Environment and Planning E: Nature and Spaces (2024): 1821-1843.
Embedding deliberation: guiding the use of deliberative mini-publics in climate policy-making. Ainscough, A., Willis, R., Climate Policy (2024): 1-15.
The messy politics of local climate assemblies. Lewis, P., Ainscough, J., Coxcoon. R., Willis, R., Climate Change (2023): 176:76.
Real people or “economic processing units”? The limited understanding of people’s roles in energy and climate governance. Willis, R., Energy Research & Social Science (2022) 93.
Deliberative democracy and the climate crisis. Willis, R., Curato, N., Smith, G. WIREs Climate Change (2022) e759.
Taking deliberative research online: Lessons from four case studies. Willis, R., Yuille, A., Bryant, P., McLaren, D., Markusson, N., Qualitative Research (2021) 1-19 p.
Attractions of delay: Using deliberative engagement to investigate the political and strategic impacts of greenhouse gas removal technologies. McLaren, D., Willis, R., Szerszynski, B., Tyfield, D., Markusson, N., Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space (2021) 1-22 p.
Building a Social Mandate for Climate Action: Lessons from COVID-19. Howarth, C., Bryant, P., Corner, A., Fankhauser, S., Gouldson, A., Whitmarsh, L., Willis, R., Environmental and Resource Economics (2020) 76, p. 1107-1115.
Social tipping intervention strategies for rapid decarbonization need to consider how change happens. Smith, S., Christie, I., Willis, R., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2020) 117, 20, 2p.
Reports & Briefings
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report
What climate policies do the public want? A review of recommendations from UK citizens’ assemblies and juries.
May 2025. Climate Citizens Report

Books

Too Hot to Handle? The democratic challenge of climate change
Rebecca Willis, Bristol University Press, March 2020
Scientists are clear that urgent action is needed on climate change, and world leaders agree. Yet climate issues barely trouble domestic politics. This book explores a central dilemma of the climate crisis: science demands urgency; politics turns the other cheek. Is it possible to hope for a democratic solution to climate change?
Based on interviews with leading politicians and activists, and the author’s twenty years on the frontline of climate politics, this book explores why climate is such a challenge for political systems, even when policy solutions exist. It argues that more democracy, not less, is needed to tackle the climate crisis, and suggests practical ways forward.
Available here











