A sociology of environmental governance for eco- social transformation. Key aspects in the case of the European Union
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Abstract
Climate change policies have focused mostly on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There is a growing consensus that the main solutions applied (technological, market and behavioural) have not brought the expected results. It is thus considered necessary to implement other more ambitious policies, such as organizational-institutional, structural, and systemic changes, with a more substantive and restorative climate orientation. To promote these solutions, better action by states, governments and public institutions is needed, based on a legitimate and effective environmental governance, based on a developed meta-governance and three pillars of governance (democratic, epistemic, and social-civil). These theorizations are applied to analyse the European Union’s (EU) environmental and climate governance. Based on secondary materials and on empirical scientific literature, it is observed that the EU has set increasingly ambitious objectives, that its meta-governance has been rather limited and with a soft and coordinating approach, and that its governance pillars have had a limited development, but with dynamics and initiatives. Despite its clear weaknesses, the EU's environmental governance a potential capacity to advance in eco-social transformation.
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