The climate-energy nexus at the core of the EU’s climate action agenda: Re-framing, contestation, and pushback

Abstract

Since the launch of the European Green Deal (EGD) in 2019, the climate-energy nexus has been at the core of the EU’s climate action agenda, initially with a focus on the transition to renewable sources and more efficient energy use. Exogenous shocks such as the Russian attack on Ukraine, increased geopolitical uncertainty and more volatile relationship to the US have prompted a sequence of adjustments of this nexus to address issues of security, resource independence, technological leadership and industrial competitiveness. These shifts raise a range of related empirical, conceptual and methodical questions, particularly on how to conceptualize and identify linkages of policy issues, how to explain and evaluate observable shifts within these linkages, and how to evaluate implications for policy-making of the EU to achieve net-zero ambitions. We invite papers that present new research on these topics, and particularly encourage contributions tthat apply approaches of quantitative content analysis of policy documents, party political and parliamentary contestation, and their resonance in media and online publics. Questions addressed in the panel include: 1) How does the re-framing of the EU climate agenda affect the nexus between net-zero targets and energy policies, and what are implications for the policy process? 2) What are relevant topics and focal points of political controvery on the climate-energy nexus, and how are they mobilized and contested by political agents? 3) What are sources and manifestations of pushback against the EU’s climate agenda and its core targets of net-zero emissions that follow from the increased focus on issues of security and competitiveness?

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