Setting the scene in Europe

Emerging national and transnational social policy responses to climate change

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7785673
AutoresRobin Schulze Waltrup (0000-0002-0897-9570, Bielefeld University), Vincent Gengnagel (0000-0002-2419-5266, Europa-Universität Flensburg), Katharina Zimmermann (0000-0002-1074-3356, Universität Hamburg), Alexandra Kaasch (0000-0001-9671-3766, Bielefeld University)
Año2025
Volumen25
Número1
Páginas3-16
Fecha de publicación2025-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaGlobal Social Policy (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1468-0181 • E-ISSN: 1741-2803
EditorialSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14680181241312557
OpenAlexW4406955483
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas58

This editorial argues for the importance of examining European social policy-making in relation to climate change from a global social policy perspective. It highlights that climate change significantly impacts social policy, both in cushioning its negative effects and in recognising how traditional welfare state models have contributed to ecological crises with severe inequalities between countries. The European Union, with its relatively advanced social policy integration and its historical responsibility in the transgression of planetary boundaries, plays a crucial role in responding to climate change and has the potential to position its eco-social policy model as a global exemplar, which is critically examined in this issue. The special issue covers a range of topics, from conceptual advancements to both qualitative and quantitative analyses, across national and supranational levels of European social policy-making with respect to climate change. The articles suggest that social policy primarily functions adaptively as a mechanism to lessen the adverse social effects of climate change (mitigation), including industrial transitions, rather than being applied in a transformative way that would mitigate climate change escalation in the first place

Climate change · Development economics · Economic geography · Economics · Geography · Political science · Social policy · Employment and Welfare Studies · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics · Oceanography