Research project Public-private sector interactions in climate adaptation
Private companies are increasingly adapting to climate change, and these responses can have widespread effects on society, affecting areas like water access, safety, and public services. Our project seeks to map and explain these public-private interactions in climate adaptation and assess their potential to advance democratic and effective adaptation.
This project investigates interactions between public and private actors in the area of climate adaptation. There is growing recognition that adaptation to climate risks requires interactions between public and private actors, as well as stringent regulations that require companies to take societal interests into account when addressing climate risks. Previous research has largely focused on adaptation by public actors, and we know little about public-private interactions in the area of adaptation, and their consequences for governing climate risks in a just, democratic, and effective manner.
The principal research questions are:
- How do practitioners in the public and private sector understand climate risks, and why are some of them more motivated to engage in public-private sector interactions than others?
- How do public-private interactions in adaptation vary in terms of the degree of coordination and in terms of their quality, and in what public and private governance landscape do these interactions emerge?
- Why are some forms of public-private interactions in adaptation more just, democratic, and effective than others?
- To what extent can emerging supply chain regulations contribute to governing climate risks in a just, democratic, and effective manner?
To address these questions, we theorize and empirically examine public-private interactions, drawing on theories of climate adaptation, global governance, democracy, and environmental justice. We will provide generic knowledge about how to enhance public-private sector interactions, using document, interview and survey data from four countries and three sectors. Empirically, the focuses on public-private interactions in four countries: Brazil, Germany, South Africa, and Sweden, within the context of three highly climate-vulnerable issue areas: large-scale agriculture, land transport infrastructure, and mining.
In sum, the project will provide for the first comprehensive and comparative assessment of public-private interactions in adaptation governance, and offer policy-relevant knowledge about existing governance gaps, and how to enhance the justice, democracy and effectiveness of the public-private sector interactions.
Project description
The project will map and explain public-private sector interactions in adaptation. To this end, we will draw on insights from theories related to public-private interactions, democratic governance, and environmental justice. We will begin by conceptualizing public-private sector interactions in terms of their positioning along two key axes: (a) Coordination, which spans from weak coordination (e.g., ad hoc dialogues, conferences, workshops) to strong coordination (e.g., public-private partnerships, long-term project collaborations). (b) Complementarity, which ranges from conflictual to complementary interactions. Subsequently, we will assess these forms of interactions based on their democratic attributes (such as accountability, participation, and transparency) and their impact on redistributive outcomes (companies' provision of public adaptation goods).
Empirically, the focuses on public-private interactions in four countries: Brazil, Germany, South Africa, and Sweden, within the context of three highly climate-vulnerable issue areas: large-scale agriculture, land transport infrastructure, and mining. The project adopts an ambitious mixed methods approach, integrating both quantitative and qualitative research techniques. It aims to generate novel empirical findings through the use of survey methods, interviews, and ethnographic field studies.
Taken together, the project makes three central contributions to ongoing scholarly and policy debates. First, it will provide for the first comprehensive and comparative assessment of public and private actors perceptions of public-private interactions in adaptation governance. Second, it will offer a fine-grained mapping of existing public-private interactions governing adaptation across issue areas and in different parts of the world. Third, it will contribute with important policy-relevant knowledge about existing governance gaps, and how to enhance corporate accountability in the area of climate adaptation.
Project members
Members
Lisa Dellmuth
Professor
Maria-Therese Gustafsson
Senior lecturer, Associate professor
Shefali Roy
PhD Candidate
Isabella Strindevall
PhD student