Broadening the debate:
Democratic innovations and climate change
Formulating climate legislation requires thinking beyond short-term policy cycles. However, policymakers are often said to be shortsighted and unable to pass the necessary climate measures. In the face of the urgent need for increasingly far-reaching legislation and tensions on who will have to bear the cost of the transition, experts propose various solutions to enable more adequate climate policymaking.
In this module, you will explore political challenges democracies face concerning climate policy development and potential solutions to address them. It consists of two parts:
- a reading exercise on the divisive politics of the European Green Deal; and
- a reading exercise of choice on deliberative and/or science-based policymaking.
Module outline
- Reading exercise 'The Divisive Politics of the Green Transition: Europe's Unmet Challenge' by Richard Youngs
- Quiz based on the text
- Reading exercise of choice on deliberative democracy and/or science-based policymaking
- Reflection exercise on democracy and climate change
Concepts relevant to Module 5:
Climate Assembly, Conference of the Parties (COP), Deliberative Democracy, Deliberative Mini-Public, Energy Poverty, European Green Deal, European Scientific Advisory Board, Just Transition, National Advisory Body, Technocracy, Turbulence
The Divisive Politics of the Green Transition: Europe’s Unmet Challenge
READING EXERCISE
As a start to this module, you will read the article 'The Divisive Politics of the Green Transition: Europe’s Unmet Challenge' by Richard Youngs. It details political challenges democracies might face when formulating climate legislation and potential ways to address them.
The article was published in Carnegie Europe in December 2021.
Is populism a challenge to European energy and climate policy?
READING EXERCISE
In the reading exercise of first part of the module the author outlined the social and political consequences of the climate transition and how they can result in more divisive policymaking. Additionally, he gave an overview of different forms of decision-making that could address these challenges.
In this part of the module, you will examine these alternative decision-making structures. You are not required to read all the texts, you can choose the one that interests you the most – which is not to say you cannot read all!
The reading exercise will be followed by some reflection prompts.
- Option A: Deliberative minipublics
The article 'Deliberative Mini-Publics and the European Green Deal in Turbulent Times: The Irish and French Climate Assemblies' by Diarmuid Torney discusses the role of citizen participation and deliberative mini-publics in the EU's climate transition using the examples of the Irish Citizens' Assembly and the French Citizens Convention for Climate.
The article was published in Politics and Governance in 2021 as part of a Special Issue on Climate Governance and the European Green Deal in Turbulent Times.
Source: Torney, D. (2021). Deliberative Mini-Publics and the European Green Deal in Turbulent Times: The Irish and French Climate Assemblies. Politics and Governance, 9(3), 380-390.
- Option B: Scientific advisory bodies
The briefing by the European Environment Agency on the 'Contribution of National Climate Change Advisory Bodies in Europe' outlines how governments have tried to encourage evidence-based climate policymaking by including scientific experts in the policy process.
It summarises the findings of a report by Nick Evans and Matthias Due (Ecologic Institute) on 'Climate governance systems in Europe: the role of national advisory bodies.', commissioned by the EEA.
Reflections
Take some time to reflect on the challenges the climate transition poses for democratic decision-making and the potential solutions to address them.
- Do you agree with Richard Young's argument for less technocratic and more inclusive policymaking? Why/why not?
- Based on your reading exercise of choice for the second part of the module, what do you see as the benefits and challenges to your chosen approach? How do they promise to address the increasingly divisive nature of climate policymaking?
Write down your thoughts on these questions.
Further material
In this module, we discussed the contentiousness of climate policymaking and alternative forms of decision-making to help address these challenges.
If you are interested in learning more about the topic, you can have a look at the following resources.
1. Deliberative democracies
Willis, R., Curato, N. & Smith, G. (2022). Deliberative democracy and the climate crisis. WIREs Climate Change, 13 (2). https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.759
Machin, A. (2023). Democracy, Agony, and Rupture: A Critique of Climate Citizens’ Assemblies. Polit Vierteljahresschr. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11615-023-00455-5.
Smith, G. (2021).Democratic design for the long-term. Blog post.
Youngs, R. (2021). Green Democracy in Europe. Carnegie Europe
2. Scientific advisory bodies
Evans, N. & Duwe, M. (2021). Climate governance systems in Europe: the role of national advisory bodies. Ecologic Institute, Berlin; IDDRI, Paris.
Dupont, C., Rosamond, J., & Zaki, B. L. (2023). Investigating the scientific knowledge–policy interface in EU climate policy. Policy & Politics (published online ahead of print 2023). https://doi.org/10.1332/030557321X16861511996074
3. Engagement of non-state actors
Jale Tosun, Jan Pollex & Laurence Crumbie (2023) European climate pact citizen volunteers: strategies for deepening engagement and impact. Policy Design and Practice, 6 (3), 344-356. https://doi.org/10.1080/25741292.2023.2199961
Parks, L., & Tsioumani, E. (2023). Transforming biodiversity governance? Indigenous peoples' contributions to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Biological Conservation, 280, 109933. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.109933
4. How Green is Your Deal Podcast episodes on the topic
- Podcast Episode 3: Voices of change: environmental activism in Central and Eastern Europe with Aron Buzogány and Szabina Kerényi
- Podcast Episode 6: Having faith: the role of Muslim climate intermediaries with Paul Tobin and Zarina Ahmad
- Podcast 10: Climate activism in the EU: From the streets to a seat at the table.
- Episode 25: Democracy: solution or obstacle to climate transitions? with Diarmuid Torney
- Episode 26: Giving citizens a voice: European climate assemblies with Aishwarya Machani
- Episode 27: Public consultations in National Energy and Climate Plans: Improving legitimacy? with Lea Schewe
- Episode 28: Politicising technical policymaking: delegated and implementing acts in EU climate governance with Brendan Moore and Jeff Rosamond
- Episode 29: Democracy is heating up: impacts of climate change on policymaking with Daniel Lindvall
- 'Reasons to be Cheerful' Podcast #316: From school assembly to climate assembly: the children changing democracy.
5. Other materials that were produced during the GreenDeal-NET project and after the launch of the MOOC
- GDN Special Issue: The European Green Deal and democracy
- Oberthür et al (2025). Reinforcing EU Climate and Democratic Governance: Enhancing Public Participation and Deliberation