Scientific publications

Since 2019, the European Green Deal (EGD) has sought to harmonise efforts across several sectors towards a long-term goal of carbon neutrality. In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the 2022 REPowerEU Plan positioned decarbonisation as a key means to reduce dependence on imports of Russian fossil fuels. Central to achieving this goal is reforming the permitting processes for renewable energy projects, particularly regarding environmental rules and principles. We trace how the EU has addressed the challenge of balancing renewables and biodiversity concerns by identifying and explaining the effects of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 on policy integration. Drawing on the processual approach to policy integration, our study identifies three phases of integration of biodiversity concerns into EU renewable energy policy. The most recent phase disrupted ongoing efforts towards policy integration initiated by the EGD and shifted the balance towards accelerated renewable energy deployment over biodiversity concerns. Employing insights from the EU crisis literature and focusing on the effects of the crisis on actor-level factors of policy integration (capacity, core beliefs, commitment), we unpack how the crisis contributed to reducing policy integration of biodiversity into renewable policy.

Although climate action is highly intertwined with governance structures, climate policy modelling science has been argued to insufficiently reflect political processes. We analyse the evolution of democratic governance embedded in the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) that are heavily underpinning modelling studies. Using the Narrative Policy Framework in the SSPs storylines, we find underrepresentation of narratives explicitly centring on democratic principles such as participation, accountability and justice, despite their importance in envisioning legitimate and inclusive transitions. An evaluation of quantitative indicators within the SSP framework under the same democratic principles shows divergence from the patterns implied by the storylines. Finally, analysis of scenarios assessed in the 6th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows that regions scoring high in democracy-related indicators tend to perform well in mitigation, aligning with empirical evidence. These findings highlight opportunities to enhance the SSP framework to inter alia more adequately incorporate political processes.

Research on the global climate movement underlines the importance of learn-ing and diffusion processes for adopting similar master frames and movementtactics. At the same time, participation research suggests regionally differentpatterns of mobilisation and protest behaviour. Due to different historicalsocialisation processes, Western and Eastern European citizens show differ-ences in political activity despite some signs of convergence. This article exam-ines the sociodemographic characteristics and attitudes of climate activistsfrom Eastern and Western Europe. Using protest surveys of Fridays for Futureparticipants in 15 Western and Eastern European countries, we show significantdifferences between them. Western European climate activists tend to havestronger leftist attitudes, while in Eastern Europe apolitical stances are morecommon along with higher confidence in market solutions to solve environ-mental problems. Such differences are likely to affect the cohesion and successof the global climate movement.

The European Union’s European Green Deal (EGD) was announced as an ambitious endeavour to achieve a just transition, address climate change, biodiversity loss and more. Importantly, it expresses the desire to tackle these challenges in a democratic way. Indeed, the scale of the changes required to meet the EGD’s goals mean that without democratic consent it is likely to fail, with disastrous consequences. With this introduction to the Special Issue on the European Green Deal and democracy we sketch the contours of this wide-ranging debate through a focus on aspects of democracy that are central to the EU and the EGD: representation, participation and deliberation, justice and the just transition, and expertise. The different contributions to this Special Issue examine democratic elements in the EGD and surrounding governance structures by exploring alternative sources of democratic innovation, including deliberative mechanisms and social movements, as potential avenues for transformative change.

This case note examines the landmark judgment issued by the European Court of Human Rights regarding the complaint brought by the NGO Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and four individual applicants against Switzerland. It explores the ground breaking nature of this judgment and its broader implications for climate change litigation at the national, regional and international levels.