Leverage points for climate action

• Applicant: Dr. Jan Petzold
• Subject Area: Human Geography ; Empirical Social Research ; Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals and Ecosystems, Organismic Interactions ; Political Science ; Sociological Theory
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 538957776

Climate change necessitates significant societal and economic transformations, including mitigation and adaptation. Governments must make critical decisions for climate action in the coming decade to keep global warming below 2°C and avoid catastrophic impacts. The IPCC suggests that climate-resilient development pathways are needed to achieve societies that can adapt to climatic changes, have a low carbon footprint, and meet the sustainable development goals. However, how societies can effectively initiate such a transformation is poorly understood. The leverage points perspective can serve as a bridging concept between various scientific communities and disciplines that deal with climate action concerns but are fragmented and follow different epistemological and methodological approaches. Leverage points are places in a system where a small shift may lead to fundamental changes in the system as a whole. Moreover, there are three realms of deep leverage: re-connect, re-structure, and re-think. Re-connect focuses on fostering material and non-material interlinkages between humans and nature. Re-structure concerns institutional reform, including measures targeting systemic and structural changes. Re-think emphasises the need for knowledge co-production, especially through transdisciplinary processes. These three realms of deep leverage may provide a system understanding to re-analyse concrete interventions for adaptation, mitigation, and transformation pathways. However, there still needs to be more methodological coherence and empirical foundation. The research network aims to provide a platform for discussing insights on the conceptual and empirical state of research on leverage points to counter climate change from different disciplinary perspectives. The principal objective of the research network is to channel these perspectives towards a robust, innovative framework for assessing the means to achieve plausible climate change adaptation, mitigation, and transformation pathways. By bringing together scholars from different disciplines dealing with climate action and transformation, the network aims to develop empirical, conceptual, and methodological advancement.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Maraja Riechers