The green transition and economic polarization in Europe: a multi-level assessment with Germany and Poland as case studies

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Claudius Gräbner-Radkowitsch
• Subject Area: Economic Policy, Applied Economics ; Empirical Social Research
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 504890580

The project studies the effects of the recent commitments of the EU to a more environmental-friendly development model on the local, regional, and national level, and delineates implications for the multi-scale policy response anticipated by the EU Commission. To comply with its legal obligations, and to put EU economies on a 1.5 degree-compatible emission reduction pathway, an ecological transformation of the production and consumption sphere of the EU – here summarized under the heading ‘green transition’ – is inevitable. This involves deep structural reforms towards more environmentally friendly production structures and the provision of incentives that foster more sustainable consumption patterns. This bears the risk of increasing inequalities: for some of the EU Member States, as well as regions and social actors, the transition appears as a challenge which may undermine their economic status. For others, meanwhile, it is perceived as a window of opportunity. This distribution of risks and challenges has been recognized by the EU. In the European Green Deal it is explicit that: “[t]hese challenges require a strong policy response at all levels”. The main goal of the proposed project is to study to what extent these ‘policy responses at all levels’ are necessary and how they should be designed. To achieve this goal, the project is structured around three work packages, each of which is focused on a different level of analysis, as well as a final package meant to synthesize the findings: The first work package delineates a national (macro) country topology based on the vulnerabilities and potentials of the EU economies and used to identify macro constraints for regional actors and implications for comparative economic development in Europe. The second work package focuses on the regional (meso) level of European coal regions, which will be especially affected by a green transition. The work package comprises a quantitative analysis of regional-level preconditions towards green energy transition. The third work package complements the quantitative work of the first two work packages by two comparative case studies on the local (micro) level: Konin (Poland) and Lusatia (Germany), employing a qualitative analysis of local factors influencing the success of the transition. The fourth work package is dedicated to the identification of linkages between the three levels of analysis and the delineation of policy implications based on the integrated results of the first three work packages. In all, the project will shed light on the potentially unequal effects of the structural reforms in the EU on the national, regional as well as local levels. This paves the way for the delineation of the multi-level policy measures that the Commission anticipates, both to prevent asymmetric effects and to allow for an inclusive transformation towards a more sustainable Europe.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Poland, United Kingdom
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Jakob Kapeller
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Maciej Grodzicki; Zofia Lapniewska, Ph.D.; Dr. Judyta Lubacha