We hope the workshop will contribute to create mutual understandings of research challenges, across disciplinary divides.
Attaining the target of net zero CO2 emissions by 2050 cannot happen without acceleration of climate action (IPCC 2018, 2021; Geels et al. 2017). It is widely believed that all pathways to net-zero will require active state engagement (IPCC 2018).
Getting to net-zero represents an unprecedented governing challenge. Emissions scenarios show that active state engagement is necessary for current trends to align with technological and economic trajectories consistent with net-zero targets.
However, the representation of policy in the Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) that are used to generate emissions scenarios is very narrow and limited. In contrast, climate governance research increasingly put emphasis on complex policy mixes.
While empirical research indicate that climate transitions tend to rely on broad host of policies, such as industry-, trade- and social policy (Boasson and Tatham, 2023; Hochstetler, 2021), IAMs often capture climate policy by using a single variable: a globally uniform carbon price.
While modelling and scenarios have facilitated development of emission reduction targets and carbon budgets, social scientists have shown that climate transitions are way more complex than represented in the models and scenarios. Different societies require the state to act in different ways, and strategies for governing climate transitions vary across countries, sectors and over time (Boasson et al., 2021; Geels and Turnheim, 2022; Le Quéré et al., 2019).
Still, it is important to identify and discuss the potentials for analytical and causal generalizations. To tease these out, we need to increase communication and collaboration across research communities.
The workshop is open for researchers with varying views on how to link models and insights from the social sciences, be it bridging, iterating, merging strategies, or something else (see Trutnevyte et al., 2019).
A few scholars have already come up with suggestions for methods and research designs that allows us to unpack the causal relationships between state actions and emissions reductions, but this research is still in its infancy (see Limberg et al., 2024; Stechemesser et al., 2024).
The key to enhanced understanding of the role of the state in bringing down emissions is to increase the dialogue across different research communities and together develop cumulative research frontiers.
Recently, modelling and social science scientific communities have started to relate to each other, but primarily focused on technological innovation and socio-technological change, rarely politics and governance (Hof et al., 2020; Trutnevyte et al., 2019).
We need more cross-disciplinary discussions about the role of the state in driving emissions reduction, and about how to combine knowledge about real-world climate governance dynamics with knowledge generated by models.
Several factors make this challenging, ranging from ontological and epistemological differences to a lack of supply of research on national climate politics and policy (Boasson and Tatham, 2023; Geels et al., 2016).
Organizer: Elin Lerum Boasson, UiO