Socio-political actors in climate policy: Final report published!

The "Social Actors" pilot project has been completed! 

How do socio-political actors position themselves in the current climate policy debate? How can they play a more important role and work better together?

Between March and July 2023, Julia Horn and Gerd Leipold interviewed 27 representatives of socio-political actors (from trade unions, works councils, churches, social and welfare organisations, environmental organisations and the climate movement, five from academia and think tanks, three from networks and foundations). 
On 22 June, an online discussion workshop was held with ten of the interviewees and five other guests from other socio-political fields. The topics of the discussion were the discrepancy between the leadership and members of an organisation and "climate money" as a financial instrument in climate policy, with an expert input.
Based on the interviews and the discussion round, a summarised report was compiled and has now been published. The final report summarises the most important results of the interviews, quotes and examples and contains the authors' recommendations for the engagement of socio-political actors in climate policy. 

There was great interest in the topic of "climate money" as a financial equalisation mechanism during the discussion. Although it is included in the coalition agreement, the government has not yet launched a climate fund. There is a lot of half-knowledge and misunderstandings about what a climate money should and should not achieve. For example, a climate money paid out on a flat-rate per capita basis is not intended to have a steering effect; this is already provided by the CO2 price. The purpose of such a climate money is only to compensate for additional costs that arise due to price increases as a result of a CO2 price.
A social climate fund was recently adopted at EU level. This fund totalling 86.7 billion euros is intended to cushion higher costs. 5 billion of this will flow to Germany. Germany must submit a social climate plan by mid-2025 to organise the fund at national level. Prior to this, mandatory stakeholder consultations must take place. An exchange of good practice between EU member states is planned for the first half of 2024.
The upcoming organisation of the EU Social Climate Fund at German level is an opportunity for social actors to proactively help shape the process. Until now, stakeholders have often come forward as petitioners after the event and demand social cushioning. The EU obliges member states to organise stakeholder consultations. These can be used to involve stakeholders at an early stage and offer room for manoeuvre.

Are you working on similar topics? Do you have feedback or ideas? We look forward to hearing from you! You can also find out more about the project here.