« Environmental Policies » Research Group

The 'Environmental Policies' research group aims to make sense of environmental policies in the broadest sense - sustainable development, climate change, green growth and, more recently, energy and ecological transitions - and to shed light on the choices made by policy-makers and, more generally, a wide range of stakeholders.

This line of research seeks to assess evaluates these public policies by focusing on the production of data, expertise and knowledge, the boundaries and limits of public regulation, and the functioning of the vast array of organisations (public, private, civil society) that contribute to environmental regulation. This research combines theoretical approaches and investigation methods from the social sciences (political science, economics, sociology), natural sciences and life sciences. This interdisciplinary approach allows us to respond to the challenges raised by the evaluation of environmental policies: actions conducted at multiple levels (international, European, national, local); a diversified "toolbox" (law, taxation, incentives, etc.); disjointed temporalities and uncertainties; strong permeability to context effects.

This research is guided by several principles:

1) a processual approach to identify the actors and mechanisms at work from policy formulation to policy implementation;

2) a cross-sectoral comparative perspective to address: first, the dynamics at play within issue-specific environmental policies (biodiversity, etc.) and resulting from the mainstreaming of environmental protection objectives throughout sectoral policies (agriculture, transport, energy, etc.); second, the comparison between political and institutional contexts to assess policy capacities throughout the policy process and across different levels of governance;

3) public policies analysed from the point of view of both their substance and their instrumentation in order to assess the specific role of monitoring and evaluation devices.

This research group develops its activities in partnership with the Earth Politics Center's research program. 

For more information, read the interview with Charlotte Halpern. 

Contact : environnement.liepp@sciencespo.fr

SEMINARS OF THE RESEARCH GROUP

The environmental policies research group organizes seminars open to all, presenting research work on various topics related to its research themes.

Seminars of the Environmental policies research group 

ASSOCIATED RESEARCH PROJECTS

Ongoing projects 

• Policy Instruments for the energy efficiency sector: enabling mechanisms for a "FIT for 55" efficient transition (PIREES55) (2023)
• Climate action plans inventories : policy instruments to reduce GHG emissions at the city level (CAPin GHG) (2021)
• Les politiques publiques et la gouvernance des transitions écologiques (2020)
• Comprendre le rôle des collectifs et leurs relations avec les politiques publiques de réduction des inégalités socio-environnementales (CIVIC ACT 2) (2020)  

INTERVIEWS, NOTES AND ANALYSES

• LIEPP internship on interdisciplinary environmental research (interview with Sophia Noel, may 2022)