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Social and Civic Mobilisation for Climate Action

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Air, Climate Change and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 4055

Special Issue Editors

The Centre for Civil Rights and Democracy Research, Wrocław, Poland
Interests: sustainability; sustainable development; environmental politics; social movements; energy transition; human rights; social policy; political sociology
NIFU (Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation), Research and Education, Oslo, Norway
Interests: quantitative and qualitative social science; science, technology and environmental politics; sustainable energy transition; bioeconomy and green economics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

To implement energy transition, effective climate protection and the European Green Deal (EGD), in addition to changes in technology and financial investments in renewable energy, social commitment and behaviour change are needed at the civic level. Without social dialogue, the participation of civic initiatives and the involvement of local grassroots movements, the implementation of EGD will face many barriers. Creating a new green deal must be of a more civic, bottom-up nature. Climate action is based on horizontal social structures. Therefore, it is particularly important to analyse interactions between climate movements and the implemented energy and climate policy. It is also vital to explore how climate protection demands are translated into the social practices of people and communities in their everyday lives. Namely, climate protection must be implemented not only by governments, but above all by citizens. Effective actions for climate cannot take place without a democratic green wave spreading in the public sphere, without social network structures linking the local and global levels, and without a strong embedding of climate protection in civil society.

Submissions for this Special Issue should include the description, analysis and explanation of the following issues for a wide audience:

- the importance of civic initiatives and types of social movements working for climate protection;

- differentiation of social attitudes towards climate change due to gender, social class and place of residence;

- changes in everyday behaviour for climate protection and energy saving;

- social mobilisation for climate in the context of investments threatening local communities and the environment;

- climate action during election campaigns and political disputes;

- climate action in traditional and social media;

- the role of urban movements in counteracting climate change in cities;

- climate justice and democracy;

- sociological, cultural, political and psychological factors influencing changes in social behaviour in the context of climate;

- the social composition, facilities and mobilisation capabilities of climate movements;

- the ideological and political arguments of climate movement activists in relation to the existing social order;

- the impact of economic conditions on attitudes towards energy transition, particularly in regions whose residents are employed in the fossil fuel industry;

- the opponents of climate movements and reasons for rejecting climate demands;

- the role of citizen media in popularising climate action;

- the importance of education in encouraging the young generation to participate in environmental and climate protection activities.

Prof. Dr. Piotr Zuk
Dr. Antje Klitkou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Climate movements
  • Civil society
  • Civic media and climate
  • Education
  • Environmental protest movement
  • Local community
  • Urban Movement
  • Local and transnational actions for climate protection
  • Climate scepticism and counter-climate movements
  • Energy transition
  • Social conflict around climate
  • European Green Deal
  • Decarbonisation
  • Oil and gas extraction
  • Coal basins.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 1576 KiB  
Article
The Evolution of Climate Change Reporting in Business Media: Longitudinal Analysis of a Business Newspaper
by Swarnalakshmi Umamaheswaran, Vandita Dar and Jagadish Thaker
Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 15214; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su142215214 - 16 Nov 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1634
Abstract
The agenda-setting and attitude-forming role of media has been proven and endorsed over time. Media has played an instrumental role in the way the issue of climate change is perceived by various stakeholders in society. Although studies on media coverage of climate issues [...] Read more.
The agenda-setting and attitude-forming role of media has been proven and endorsed over time. Media has played an instrumental role in the way the issue of climate change is perceived by various stakeholders in society. Although studies on media coverage of climate issues have been gaining prominence in recent years, there is a gap when we consider the Global South. Moreover, although the business sector is a critical stakeholder in climate change policy and action, studies that focus on how business media projects and highlights climate change are relatively sparse. This vacuum is even more pronounced in developing countries. This research is an attempt to address this gap. We have conducted a longitudinal analysis of climate change reporting in a leading Indian business newspaper, using automated content analysis. Results provide us with valuable insights about how climate frames and climate themes have evolved over time in business media. Our findings suggest that while climate cooperation is a prominent topic in business media, however, it has been declining in recent years. On the other hand, the share of domestic news covering sector specific issues is increasing, mirroring India’s change in stance. The insights derived will help in building consensus across stakeholders involving business decision-makers, media houses, policy makers, and civil society. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social and Civic Mobilisation for Climate Action)
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Review

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21 pages, 2663 KiB  
Review
Toward a Comprehensive Framework of Social Innovation for Climate Neutrality: A Systematic Literature Review from Business/Production, Public Policy, Environmental Sciences, Energy, Sustainability and Related Fields
by Sabrina Bresciani, Francesca Rizzo and Alessandro Deserti
Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 13793; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su142113793 - 24 Oct 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1846
Abstract
Social Innovation (SI) is considered a key lever for supporting climate action and decarbonization. In addition to the adoption of technological innovations, novel social practices can lead to the reconfiguration of socio-technical systems toward more democratic energy transitions and heightened civic participation for [...] Read more.
Social Innovation (SI) is considered a key lever for supporting climate action and decarbonization. In addition to the adoption of technological innovations, novel social practices can lead to the reconfiguration of socio-technical systems toward more democratic energy transitions and heightened civic participation for climate action. Several frameworks and cases of social innovation for climate neutrality are described in the academic literature; however, this rich body of knowledge is scattered across different fields and the actual relevance of social innovation for climate is rarely measured. A core challenge remains regarding the systematic assessment of social innovation’s contribution to decarbonization. With the aim of developing a comprehensive framework for potentially assessing social innovations, the extant literature is mapped and the following key dimensions of social innovation for climate neutrality are derived: context, input (or resources), social innovation activities (capacity building, types of SI initiatives and scaling), and results (immediate outputs, medium-term outcomes, long-term impact toward wellbeing). The framework has both theoretical and practical relevance: it provides a structured pathway of social innovation mechanisms and related assessment categories, which can be deployed showing evidence of social innovation effects, gaining insights for actions’ improvements, as well as informing policy-making. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social and Civic Mobilisation for Climate Action)
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