Democracy on thin ice? 

Climate and sustainability policy, backlash, and the legitimacy challenge in the EU.

In this roundtable debate, the panelists examined how the EU can uphold democratic legitimacy while advancing ambitious climate and sustainability policies in times of backlash, polarisation, and democratic backsliding. The discussion highlighted both resilience and vulnerability: the EU continues to expand its environmental governance and democratic experiments, yet faces pressures from authoritarian populism, misinformation, and economic anxieties. Panellists explored citizen participation and assemblies, legal safeguards for democracy, the centrality of justice in the transition, and the global and intergenerational dimensions of legitimacy.

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Key Highlights

• Resilient but pressured democracy: despite authoritarian populism, geopolitical turbulence, and climate backlash, the EU has delivered major climate legislation and remains a transnational experiment in democracy.
• Citizen participation as a democratic laboratory: climate assemblies and participatory innovations can strengthen legitimacy, but risks of tokenism or “citizen-washing” underline the need for enforceable minimum standards.
• Rule of law and safeguards: access to information, participation, justice, and independent courts are indispensable to defend democracy, ensure accountability, and prevent backsliding.
• Backlash and legitimacy challenges: protests, economic anxieties, and shifting narratives (e.g. from “green” to “clean”) illustrate growing tensions and pressures on EU climate action.
• Justice as a cornerstone: fair burden-sharing, social protection, and protection of human rights are essential for ensuring both democratic support and legitimacy of climate policies.
• Global and intergenerational dimensions: meaningful legitimacy requires inclusion of future generations, non-citizens, and global stakeholders; citizen assemblies and novel governance tools can help broaden representation.

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Panel

Karin Bäckstrand is a Professor in Environmental Social Science in the Department of Political Science at Stockholm University and senior researcher at the Institute for Future Studies. During the academic year of 2023/2024 she was Visiting Professor at the Grantham Research Institute on Environment and Climate Change at London School of Economics and Political Science.  Her research revolves around global environmental politics, EU's climate politics, politics, the democratic legitimacy of global governance, public-private partnerships in the 2030 Agenda, the role of state and non-state actors in climate governance. She directs the research group Environmental Policy, Politics and Learning (EPPLE), the research center of Earth System Governance at Stockholm University and coordinates the EPPLE seminar. 

Frederik Hafen is a Senior Policy Officer for Environmental Law and Democracy, European Environmental Bureau (EEB). Frederik works on environmental law and democracy. He focuses on the rights guaranteed by the Aarhus Convention, access to environmental information, participation in decision-making, and access to justice. His work also covers environmental criminal and civil liability. He holds a Master’s degree in European Public Affairs from Maastricht University and a Bachelor’s degree in European and International Law from the University of Groningen. Prior to joining the EEB, he was the Policy Advisor in the cabinet of European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly. He completed traineeships in a law firm and the European Parliament. 

Kamila Paquel is an Expert at the Secretariat to the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC). Kamila is deeply committed to advancing evidence-based climate action and EU governance. She has been supporting the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change since December 2022. Her professional journey in EU climate and energy policy began in 2009 and includes experience as a research project manager and academic lecturer, energy markets consultant, policy analyst at the sustainability think tank (IEEP), and project adviser on energy efficiency and infrastructure at the European Commission’s executive agency. Kamila holds a PhD in law.

Ben Eersels is the Executive Director at G1000, the Belgian platform for democratic innovation. The organization works with governments and societal actors, to better include citizens in policy-making at all levels of government. Among other things, he has been involved in pioneering initiatives such as the establishment of the permanent Citizens’ dialogue in East Belgium and the permanent Citizens’ Assembly on Climate in Brussels. 

Moderator: 

Louisa Parks, is currently Full Professor in Political Sociology at the University of Trento’s School of International Studies and Department of Sociology and Social Research. She holds a PhD from the European University Institute. Her research has focused on the impacts of social movements on European Union legislation, framing in the environmental (justice) movement, global civil society, local community activism and the inclusion of local communities and indigenous peoples in global environmental governance with a focus on the Convention on Biological Diversity. Her work includes the books Social Movement Campaigns on European Policy: in the corridors and in the streets, published in 2015 by Palgrave Macmillan, and Benefit-sharing in Environmental Governance: local experiences of a global concept, published in 2020 by Routledge in open access and shortlisted for the Hart-SLSA prize.