The Climate Policy Dilemma, Social Inequality, and the Question of Policy Acceptance

Speaker: Professor, Dr. Andreas Diekmann, University of Leipzig and ETH Zürich

Title: The Climate Policy Dilemma, Social Inequality, and the Question of Policy Acceptance

Abstract: I will first discuss a number of climate policy measures and ask about the effectiveness of the policies for reducing greenhouse gases. This is followed by the question of the consequences for the distribution of burdens and benefits.

For climate policies to be accepted, it is important that the measures are perceived as fair. I will discuss measures that promote the energy transition and at the same time ensure fair burden sharing between poorer and wealthier households. Finally, I will draw attention to the need to evaluate policies on a regular basis. However, this requires systematic data collection.

Bio: Andreas Diekmann studied sociology and psychology in Hamburg and Vienna. He is a Senior Professor at the University of Leipzig since 2018. He was Professor of Sociology at ETH Zurich (2003-2016) and Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin (2017-2018). Research interests include social cooperation, experimental game theory, environment and population, and social research methods.

He is a member of the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, was a senator of the section "Economics and Empirical Social Sciences" and is speaker of the class Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences since 2022. He is also a Fellow of the European Academy of Sociology and a co-editor and board member of journals and research institutions. Recent publications focus on reducing energy consumption, analyzing environmental pollution with georeferenced data, and research on norms, cooperation, and social dilemmas.