Research project Rising to the Challenge of the Climate Transition: EU's Leadership

The recent IPCC report warns for the catastrophic effects of climate change as states’ climate targets are far from sufficient to reach the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement. Despite being the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the EU is a pioneer in climate policy. Aiming to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, EU’s implementation of the European Green Deal, the ‘Fit for 55’ package and the 2040 climate targets is complicated by turbulence compounded by multiple crises.This project examines the efforts by the EU and three Member states (Sweden, Germany, Poland) to accelerate the transformation toward a climate-neutral society through a theoretical framework elucidating the interaction between turbulence and policy change through a mixed methods design (document analysis, interviews, surveys). The aim of the project is to examine how the implementation of the EU’s climate policy affect its ability to achieve an effective and just climate transition under conditions of crises. By examining (1) the effectiveness of the climate packages and EU’s prospects to achieve its targets and secure a global leadership, (2) the political conflicts and implementation challenges, and (3) the implications for a just transition, this project contributes to the understanding of the politics and policy of EU’s climate transition. A core contribution is to provide policy-relevant knowledge and recommendations on how to make EU’s green transformation more effective, just and legitimate.

The project is led by Karin Bäckstrand at the Department of Political Science at Stockholm university.