Protecting Against the Social Risks Associated to Climate Change in Europe : a Comparative Perspective

This project “Protecting Against the Social Risks Associated to Climate Change in Europe : a Comparative Perspective” is coordinated by Anne-Laure Beaussier (CNRS, Sciences Po, CSO), and associates Lydie Cabane (Leiden University), Tom Chevalier (CNRS, Sciences Po, CEE), Benoit Giry (Sciences Po Rennes) and Bruno Palier (CNRS - Sciences Po, CEE). 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

What does it mean for the state to protect populations in the era of climate change? The last report on adaptation from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns against an "unavoidable increase in multiple climate hazards'' and "multiple risks for ecosystems and humans" in the short and medium terms, whatever efforts are made to reduce carbon emissions (IPCC 2022). While most recent science highlights that the European continent is warming up faster than expected and is facing “worse-than-anticipated climatic extreme events” (EEA 2024), the question of how to protect populations against the multiple consequences of these new climate related risks, which we consider here as social-ecological risks (Mandelli, Beaussier, Chevalier, Palier 2024), has become a pressing issue both in the political and institutional scenes and in academic debates, to which this research project aims to contribute. 

Building on two different literature and academic fields, social policy and comparative welfare state analysis on the one hand and environmental risks and disaster studies on the other, PROTECCT aims to understand how different European welfare states respond to climate-induced social risks, steaming from meteorological, hydrological, and climatological events leading to disasters such as droughts, heatwaves, floods, and coastal erosion. Affected populations face potential material losses due to the destruction of properties, injuries, loss of health (including mental health and trauma), as well as economic losses (loss of revenue, jobs, destruction of public infrastructure). It seeks to address the following research question “How can we characterize and explain variations in European policies to protect populations against the social risks associated with climate change-related environmental hazards?”. 

Built around three main work-packages, its main empirical goals are to: Map out, compare and explain the various policies implemented in Europe to protect populations against social ecological risks associated with droughts, heatwaves, floods and coastal erosion (WP1), Build an original policy database whose content will be made open access (WP2), and trace and account for different logics of reforms across Europe (WP3).