„WELRISCC – Welfare state responses to social risks in times of climate change”, 03/2025–02/2027, CHANSE NORFACE-Verbundprojekt, Projektleitung des eigenen DFG-Projekts (PI-Eigenanteil 289.562, mit Overhead: 353.010€, Fördernummer GE 3702/2-1 „Wohlfahrtsstaaten und soziale Risiken in Zeiten des Klimawandels“)

The climate crisis poses urgent challenges: achieving global ecological sustainability while ensuring human well-being. Social protection systems play a pivotal role in this process. Paradoxically, in Europe, these systems are simultaneously confronted by severe environmental threats and new social risks, while also contributing to these challenges through their dependence on economic growth and legitimacy tied to growth.

These risks are categorized into:
Direct social risks:
arising from immediate threats such as droughts or floods (e.g., health crises, loss of property).
Indirect social risks:
stemming from policy measures aimed at climate mitigation and adaptation (e.g., the regressive impacts of carbon taxes on low-income households).

From a comparative welfare state perspective, the project hypothesizes that country-specific approaches to these risks are shaped by existing institutions, interests, and ideational frameworks. By combining previously disconnected debates and methodologies, WELRISCC creates innovative datasets and provides fresh theoretical insights.

The project aims to:
1. Map current welfare state responses to climate-related social risks across Europe.
2. Explain the variation in these responses by identifying underlying institutional and policy drivers.
3. Develop new theoretical approaches for studying the interplay between climate change and welfare states.