Thread by @joukoda

Why have there been so many #climate deals yet so little progress in slowing global warming? 📈

🇩🇪 has the most ambitious #sustainability plans in Europe. @kristina_bogner and I show that an overemphasis on techno-economic solutions may still be hindering progress. A 🧵 (1/6)

German policies have heavily emphasized the need to find technological solutions. They feature relatively little reflection on how well these match to societal context, system dynamics, with little participation of civil society.

But these are just words, what about deeds? (2/6)

Deeds follow words. We see that most funded research heavily emphasizes technological progress. Funding mechanisms are build on policy agendas, so this makes total sense. Research on social issues gets sidelined to "complementary research" instead of being an integral part. (3/6)

This has produced a centralized network of dominant actors specialized in finding technological fixes. They are also specialized in receiving most of the research funding. Many of these actors also consult the government on how to design policies. (4/6)

🇩🇪 pursues ambitious goals for a more sustainable economy, but implementation has proven to be hard. Politicians are torn between opposing societal factions; facing a tough regulative environment. Federalism hinders coordination & provides opportunities for contrarians. (5/6)

Even if the policy agendas would shift towards more balanced objectives, the consolidated research network may make it hard to shift focus. But what we need is more holistic & inclusive research acknowledging the socio-political context of applied technological solutions. (6/6)

Follow our arguments in detail in our new scientific publication in #EcologicalEconomics:

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

@beyond_ideology @CKemfert @Luisamneubauer @carla_reemtsma @SUrmetzer @MSchlaile @alxrdk @VQuaschning @boell_stiftung