As shown by previous economic crises in several places and times, the relation between them and environmental policy is a complex one. Briefly, crises are bad for the environment because governments do not want to invest in environmental protection in periods of crisis. In such periods, society at large and policy makers tend to value economic growth and short-term achievements even at the expense of sound environmental policies. However, in periods of crisis consumption of environmental resources decreases, such as energy consumption for industrial processes and transport, the degradation of tourist locations due to overuse of environmental resources, etc. These changes are often cyclical. To an extent, environmental advocates postpone their advocacy efforts and wait for more fruitful political conditions.
More interesting, economic crises, as all crises, are often periods of generalised re-thinking of dominant policy paradigms. Crises can potentially be good for the environment if, and only if, policy learning can occur. In relation to the 2008 crisis and its aftermaths, an awareness of the connections between the financial crisis and currently dominant environmental practices has been thematised by several environmental groups. They call for a reassessment of the crisis which would include for instance an understanding that escalating globalisation-related environmental costs were contributing factors to the economic crisis.
This presentation will specifically focus on how the relation between the environmental and the financial crisis have been conceptualised by Italian environmental groups engaged in their advocacy and communication efforts on issues of tourism policy, climate-change and energy issues. The presentation reports on a set of key-actor interviews with communication-officers and network directors of a sample of Italian environmental groups at all levels of governance (local, regional and national) and examines perceived successes and failures in these domains.
