Transforming climate commitments: The political and institutional contexts of climate action

Reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicate that to navigate clear of the most dangerous tipping points, global greenhouse gas emissions would have to decrease to net-zero by 2050. Whilst the International Energy Agency (IEA) is relatively optimistic, calculating that current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) will lead to a temperature rise of only 2.4 degrees, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) calculates that current policies will lead to a 2.9 degree rise, highlighting a “massive gap between rhetoric and reality” and arguing that the new round of NDCs due February 2025 and setting mitigation targets for 2035 require a “quantum leap” in ambition. Some 90% of states have adopted targets that aim either for achieving net-zero emissions in the coming decades or for phasing out specific fossil fuel technologies, or both. This is a major development, but the road to carbon neutrality is long and winding, while the urgency of radical action to tame dangerous climate change while adapting to an already changing climate is ever more apparent. In addition to developing new targets and policies, ambitious climate action requires increased efforts and capacities to implement already existing measures. This requires a massive, economy-wide transformation in both the Global North and the Global South. Political science can make an important contribution in addressing the challenges of climate action by identifying the drivers and obstacles to achieving carbon neutrality, as well as more efficient governance arrangements to promote broader political and societal acceptance for increasing climate ambitions.   The section will map current and ongoing research on the politics, policy, and governance of climate action and the transformation to carbon-neutral societies and economies. Its panels will be chaired by senior and junior researchers. Following a pre-call for panels from the ECPR Research Network on Energy Politics, Policy, and Governance, the section chairs collected ten potential panel proposals that fit the general theme of the section: - Climate and energy policy in turbulent times (Chair: Merethe Dotterud Leiren) - Climate Clubs: A new tool for global climate governance (Chair: Florentine Koppenborg) - Electoral competition and climate policy (Chair: Kai Schulze) - Justice, legitimacy and democracy of climate and energy policy (Chair: Kacper Szulecki) - Clash or alignment - how climate objectives interact with rising pursuits for competitiveness, autonomy and sovereignty in the EU (Chair: Paula Kivimaa) - The interplay between the ambition of climate policies and their feasibility (Chair: Jessica Jewell) - Global climate governance: what can we learn from the Paris Agreement’s first ambition cycle (Chair: Hermine van Coppenolle) - Just Transition from Coal (Chair: Jan Osička) - The European Green Deal in practice: Policymaking and governance challenges among EU member states (Chair: Emma Leenders) - Climate policy durability and dismantling (Chair: Tomas Maltby) All the potential panels listed above are seeking contributions, and there will be other panel slots available. We also encourage submissions from early career researchers. The Section is proposed by the ECPR Research Network on Energy Politics, Policy, and Governance. The section invites additional panel and paper submissions, including, but not limited to, the following topics: - Policy coherence affecting energy transitions, decarbonisation and adaptation to climate change - Manifestations and contestation of energy transitions in the Global South - International and comparative climate politics and governance - Polycrises and climate ambition - Innovation policy, enabling technologies, transition pathways: Sector coupling, low-carbon transport and heating, decentralisation, digitalisation - Community energy - Climate change mitigation and adaptation at the local level - Climate finance - Governance and politics of carbon markets - Climate obstructionism and backlash - Phasing out fossil fuels and just transitions - Political economy of net zero: The role of corporations (corporate transitions, risks, stranded assets) The Section is proposed and endorsed by the ECPR Research Network on Energy Politics, Policy, and Governance. The Network also proposes the Energy Politics in a Changing World Section. We suggest that contributions bordering the energy and climate fields be directed primarily there.