Climate Crisis and Climate Change Research

The climate crisis is a “wicked problem”: one for which there is no simple definition and no simple solution. It is a problem on which modern capitalism, with its institutional and cultural structures, is almost bound to fail. Temperatures will therefore continue to rise, and social and political conflicts will intensify. Adaptability, resilience, and above all solidarity are essential. They are also the key to realistic climate policy.

The climate crisis and climate action have become central drivers of social change. The rapid increase in the damage caused by global warming is putting societies worldwide under massive pressure to adapt. They must learn to cope with climate-induced losses – a challenge that affects individuals, social groups, economic sectors, and states to very different degrees. For societies whose cohesion is built on prosperity and stable state structures, climate change creates both structural and legitimacy crises by calling those foundations into question: Economic growth coupled with fossil fuels as the source of prosperity has become the very thing that is causing global crises. If governments and institutions fail to deliver convincing answers to this dilemma, they lose credibility and social acceptance.

Climate action to date has therefore been limited to potential change within already established structures, as has been the case with green growth, for example. Yet these efforts themselves create conflicts and encounter their own legitimacy issues, given that they have so far been largely unable to offer any convincing prospects of a free, prosperous, and secure future. By studying climate change and climate action through the lens of the social sciences, researchers at the MPIfG are working to better understand the mechanisms that drive change in contemporary societies and to explore ways of navigating crisis.

Current Research Projects

Power Over and Through Energy Futures: Constructing and Negotiating Energy Scenarios in the German Energy Transition

Sören Altstaedt
Will the energy supply of the future be organized through centralized large-scale energy production or through decentralized community energy? How we imagine the future of our energy systems is of pivotal ... more

Climate Change and Capitalist Modernity

Jens Beckert
Anthropogenic climate change is one of the central challenges of our time. The underlying facts have been known for thirty years or more, but societies are too slow ... more

Greening the European Courts: Risks and Opportunities of Transnational Climate Litigation

Angelo Giorgio Cuconato
More and more highly CO₂-emitting European firms are being sued to request compensation for losses and damages associated with climate change. Yet, the socio-economic threats and opportunities associated with such court cases are unknown. ... more

Green Generosity? Land Donations and Elite Influence on Climate Governance

Hanna Doose
Land-use is ever more recognized as playing an important role in climate change mitigation. Some landowners choose to donate their land to public or private conservation efforts ... more

The Political Economy of Energy Financialization: Transferring Risk and Expanding the Financial Power of Energy Companies

Leonie Fernholz
Energy is not only the backbone of developed economies, but also one of the key solutions for the global North to tackle the climate crisis ... more

Threats to Wealth from the Climate Crisis

Philipp Golka
The climate crisis significantly affects private wealth. According to current predictions, trillions of dollars’ worth of assets may face significant devaluation from climate damages and societal efforts to prevent the climate crisis ... more

Greening the Home

Nina Lopez-Uroz
Compared to progress in greening electricity generation, end-user sectors like buildings and transport continue to lag in reducing CO₂ emissions. Housing accounts for 40 percent of the EU’s energy consumption ... more

Living Up to Net-Zero Commitments: A Comparison of European Banks’ Efforts to Decarbonize

Francesca Romana Paradiso
Europe is pledging to become the first climate-neutral continent, assigning to the private sector the catalytic role of channeling resources in sustainable sectors. But what role do banks play in this intended decarbonization process? ... more

Learning Loss: Money and the Social Structuring of (In)Action in the Face of Climate Change

Hannah Pool
How do financial resources determine the ways people and institutions experience and react to climate change? ... more

Battery Power: Greening Europe’s Automotive Sector in the Era of Weaponized Trade

Pálma Polyák
The electric vehicle battery sector is identified as a strategic industry by the European Union. Battery gigafactories are rapidly rolled out, showered with subsidies under the EU’s (geo)political industrial policy drive ... more

Negotiating Industrial Decarbonization: State–Industry Relations and the Role of Sectoral Production Structures

Stephan Stuckmann
The transition of advanced capitalist economies from fossil to low-carbon modes of production necessarily involves energy- and carbon-intensive industries. ... more

Multilevel Governance and the Unequal Geographies of Green Investments

Leon Wansleben
In recent years, an increasing number of local authorities in Europe and around the world have declared climate emergencies and adopted local “net zero” goals. Meanwhile, calls for investment in local infrastructure for climate change mitigation ... more

Institutions for Advanced Energy Transitions

Leon Wansleben
With the rapid expansion of renewable energy sources, there is great hope that the generation of electricity with wind and solar can form the basis for comprehensive decarbonization. However, ... more

Decarbonizing Growth: The Political Economy of Energy Transitions in High- and Middle-Income Countries

Max Willems
Energy systems are fundamental infrastructures of economic growth. At the same time, their decarbonization is the cornerstone of climate change mitigation. Yet they have been largely overlooked in the study of comparative capitalism ... more

Greening International Financial Centers: The Political Economy of Green Finance Development in Asia

Ka Chun (Ray) Yung
Amid escalating climate and environmental crises, green finance has emerged as a key mechanism for mobilizing capital toward low-carbon and sustainable transformation. Serving as intermediaries that facilitate financial transactions and exchanges, international financial centers (IFCs) function as central nodes ... more