Energy and Climate Change Policies

Decision-making processes in national and international climate policy and politics

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Climate change is an environmental problem on a global scale with the need for local responses. As a result, policies aimed at preventing climate change are necessarily always an interplay of international, national and local decisions. This ‘multi-level game’ is a central focus of this research area. Particularly, we are interested in the factors and mechanisms, which explain the selection of policy instruments and targets.

Contact

Prof. Dr. Karin Ingold
Tel.: +41 31 684 53 60
E-Mail: karin.ingold@unibe.ch

Team

Prof. Dr. Karin Ingold
Dr. Marlene Kammerer
Funding: Sinergia SNSF, OCCR, IPW
Project duration: September 2014 – July 2020

 

 

 

 

Through a detailed analysis and comparison of preferences and decision-making strategies of political elites in the local and national process and delegates in international climate conferences, we analyse the feasibility of different policy instruments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, we investigate the reasons for the frequently observed divergence between international promises and national policies. 
A second focus of this research area is the comparison of different methods for analysing preferences and decision-making structures in climate policy. We use various quantitative and qualitative methods for the analysis, in particular discourse analysis, network analysis, regression and multi-criteria analysis.

Related publications:

  • Kammerer, M.; Zeigermann, U. (2025). Managing Climate Impacts—An Analysis of Adaptation Funding in German Cities and Districts. npj Clim. Action, 4(76). DOI: 10.1038/s44168-025-00280-z.
  • Nagel, M.; Kammerer, M. (Eds.). (2023). Tackling Climate Change on the Local Level: A Growing Research Agenda. Review of Policy Research, 40(6), 841-1168. DOI: 10.1111/ropr.12434.
  • Zeigermann, U.; Kammerer, M.; Böcher, M. (2023). What Drives Local Communities to Engage in Climate Change Mitigation Activities? Examining the Rural–Urban Divide (Eds.). (2023). In: Nagel, M.; Kammerer, M. (Eds.), Tackling climate change on the local level: A growing research agenda (pp. 894-919). New Haven: John Wiley & Sons. DOI: 10.1111/ropr.12528.
  • Kammerer, M.; Mueller, S.; Ingold, K.; Gallmann, M. (2023). Climate Governance and Federalism in Switzerland. In: Fenna, A.; Jodoin, S.; Setzer J. (Eds.), Climate Governance and Federalism: A Forum of Federations Comparative Policy Analysis (pp. 285-305). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/9781009249676.015.
  • Stoddart, M. C.; Tindall, D. B.; Brockhaus, M.; Kammerer, M. (2023). Conference of the Parties Meetings as Regularly Scheduled Critical Events for Global Climate Governance: Reflecting on Cop 26 and the Glasgow Climate Pact. Society & Natural Resources, 36(4), 442-450. DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2023.2175284.
  • Tindal, D.; Brockhaus, M.; Stoddart, M.; Kammerer, M. (2022, Nov. 30.). COP27 failed. So why continue with these UN climate summits? The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/cop27-failed-so-why-continue-with-these-un-climate-summits-195348.
  • Castro, P.; Kammerer, M. (2021). The Institutionalization of a Cleavage: How Differential Treatment Affects State Behavior in the Climate Negotiations. International Studies Quarterly, 65(3), 683-698. DOI: 10.1093/isq/sqab045.
  • Kammerer, M.; Ingold, K.; Dupuis, J. (2021). Switzerland: International Commitments and Domestic Drawbacks. In: R. Wurzel, M. Andersen and P. Tobin (Eds.), Climate Governance Across the Globe: Pioneers, Leaders, and Followers (pp. 235-256). London/New York: Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003014249-16.
  • Kammerer, M; Namhata, C. (2018). What drives the Adoption of Climate Change Mitigation Policy? A Dynamic Network Approach to Policy Diffusion. Policy Sciences, 51(4), 477-513. DOI: 10.1007/s11077-018-9332-6.
  • Ingold, K.; Varone, F.; Kammerer, M.; Metz, F.; Kammermann, L.; Strotz, C. (2020). Are Responses to Official Consultations and Stakeholder Surveys Reliable Guides to Policy Actors’ Positions? Policy & Politics, 48(2), 193-222. DOI: 10.1332/030557319X15613699478503.
  • Kammerer, M.; Wagner, P.; Gronow, A.; Ylä-Anttila, T.; Fisher, D. R.; Sun-Jin, Y. (2021). What Explains Collaboration in High and Low Conflict Contexts? Comparing Climate Change Policy Networks in Four Countries. Policy Studies Journal, 49(4), 1065-1086. DOI: 10.1111/psj.12422.
  • Ingold, K.; Pflieger, G. (2016). Two Levels, Two Strategies: Explaining the Gap Between Swiss National and International Responses Toward Climate Change. European Policy Analysis Journal, 2(1), 20-38. DOI:10.18278/epa.2.1.4.
  • Ingold, K.; Manuel, F. (2014). Drivers of Collaboration to Mitigate Climate Change: An Illustration of Swiss Climate Policy over 15 Years. Global Environmental Change, 24, 88-98. DOI:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.11.021.
  • Ingold, K.; Varone, F. (2012). Treating Policy Brokers Seriously: Evidence from the Climate Policy. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 22(2), 319-346. DOI:10.1093/jopart/mur035.
  • Ingold, K. (2011). Network Structures within Policy Processes: Coalitions, Power, and Brokerage in Swiss Climate Policy. Policy Studies Journal, 39(3), 435-459. DOI:10.1111/j.1541-0072.2011.00416.x.