Main Research Area Climate Policy Design

Project Lead

Research Council des Field of Focus 4

Supervision

• Melanie Nagel (coordinator)
• Jale Tosun (project leader)

Project Runtime

01.07.2024 – 31.08.2026

Summary

This collaborative project assesses which type of carbon emission information stakeholders in local climate governance consider relevant for choosing among different types of climate action. Climate action is an umbrella term which comprises policy action in the sense of changes in individual or organizational behavior, mobilization and activism, and the filing of law suits with the goal of mitigating climate change. We differentiate between three types of stakeholders: local governments, companies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working on the mitigation of climate change. We investigate which importance they attribute to scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions for choosing climate action. Scope 1 emission are directly owned or controlled by an organization. Scope 2 are emissions that an organization causes indirectly; these result from the energy an organization uses and how that energy is produced. Scope 3 emissions are indirect emissions that occur in the value chain of the reporting organization, including both upstream and downstream emissions. We hypothesize that scope 1 emissions will be most consequential for informing companies’ climate action, whereas local governments should be particularly interested in scope 2 emissions and design local policy responses accordingly, and NGOs should perceive of all three types of emissions as relevant for their strategic decisions. We further hypothesize that – depending on the scope of interest – the provision of (user-)specific high-resolution carbon emission data can additionally stimulate climate action.

How aware are the stakeholders of the different carbon emission types and information on these? How does carbon emission information shape climate action? We address these questions for stakeholders based in the Rhein Neckar region through a confirmed collaboration with the Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar. The main research activity of the project refers to designing and administering surveys with representatives of the different stakeholders. To ensure that the survey contains meaningful questions and builds adequately on the state of research, the fielding of the survey will be predated by a review of the pertinent literature and interviews with representatives of the different stakeholder groups. The findings of the project will feed into scientific publications with the aim of submitting a proposal for a large collaborative research funding.