DeepDCarb

Project description

DeepDCarb aims at gaining insights into how societies may commit to deep and rapid reduction of carbon emissions to stop anthropogenic global warming. Central actors have been found to be caught in a “governance trap” where they attribute primary responsibility to each other and refrain from taking a lead in adopting long-term and effective measures. DeepDCarb focuses on identifying ways of how societies address long-term commitment dilemmas and how these may be overcome. This is achieved in several ways: First, the project documents and explores commitment devices different states of the world – primarily the biggest emitters – have already adopted and identifies favourable conditions for these adoptions. Second, DeepDCarb investigates what motivates politicians to (not) credibly commit themselves to lead in deep and rapid decarbonisation. Third, the project sheds light on the willingness of publics to commit themselves to rapid and long-term reduction of carbon emissions. Finally, DeepDCarb opens up the black box of societal and political commitment formation to understand how the relationship between politicians, publics and other relevant actors plays out across different governance levels in democracies. To achieve this, it brings actors together in deliberative mini publics, such as citizen assemblies, and investigates whether politicising or depoliticising enhances commitment to rapid, deep and long-term measures to reduce carbon emissions. The project is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and runs for a period of five years.

Further information and project updates can be found at https://www.deepdcarb.org/

Project team

Prof. Dr. Jale Tosun

Dr. Simon Schaub

Joan Enguer

Project partners

University of East Anglia

Heidelberg University