This research (with Andrew Jonas (Hull) and Candice Howarth (LSE)), funded by the British Academy and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (2019-2021) will examine whether, and in what form, a new ‘civil politics’ of climate change is emerging from recent populist climate events in the UK and around the world. These events include school climate strikes and declarations of a climate emergency, which in the context of uncertainty surrounding Brexit have generated new social, political and economic pressures within the UK state, yet have arguably created the societal conditions needed to catalyse increased action on climate change. But still governments remain criticised for climate policy apathy, rooted in an over-reliance on fossil fuels to maintain global economic competitiveness. Using focus groups and interviews with key public, private and third sector UK stakeholders, the aim of the study is to identify, and account for, some key elements of a ‘new civil politics’ of climate change emerging at local and national scales across the UK. Our key research questions are:

1. What are the respective roles of public, private and third sector groups in contributing to a new civil politics of climate in the UK?
2. How are state and non-state stakeholders participating in such a politics and at which spatial scales, local or national?
3. What are some of the implications of a new ‘civil politics’ of climate change for the future of UK climate policy in the short-to-medium term?

I will be posting research results, journal papers, blogs and news related to this project on the website as this project evolves. Please also feel free to leave any comments.