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In person icon Building: New Philosophy Building, Floor: 1, Room: 112
Tuesday 08:30 - 10:15 EEST (26/08/2025)
Since the landmark Rio Summit in 1992, which has seen the launch of an ambitious global environmental, climate and sustainable development agenda, states across the globe have been reshaping their institutions to embed the principles of sustainability into the core of governance. From national strategies to advisory councils and parliamentary committees, from coordination and participation mechanisms to ombudspersons and framework laws, and innovative participation mechanisms, the institutional landscape of sustainability has expanded continuously. Such bodies, norms and procedures aim to integrate sustainability into decision-making at all governance levels, reflecting the calls of Agenda 21 and later the 2030 Agenda with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These institutional innovations probe the state's evolving role in steering societies toward sustainability, and sparked academic debates on the environmental state, green state, sustainability or sustainable state, and eco-social state (e.g., Bornemann, Christen, and Burger 2024; Duit, Feindt, and Meadowcroft 2016; Eckersly 2004; Hausknost and Hammond 2020; Heinrichs and Laws 2014; Koch and Fritz 2014; Mathis et al. 2023). Yet, critical questions remain. What are the theoretical and practical implications of the state’s responsibility for the sustainability transformation? Why, how, and to what end do public actors institutionalize sustainability? Do these institutional innovations translate into effective sustainability governance and transformative policies? Are there effects beyond rhetorical and symbolic changes, which are reflected in the breadth of state structures? These questions are explored in two consecutive panels. Part I focuses on conceptual issues and empirical evidence on the national level of the environmental and the sustainability state. Part II takes a deep dive into specific institutional innovations within the universe of polity for sustainability in parliament and government. This panel (Part II) discusses the feasibility of institutionalizing polity for sustainability based on findings on attitudes of members of parliament (MPs) in Belgium towards institutions for the long-term. Further, examples of how institutional innovations for sustainability impact on policy-making are discussed. It is analyzed how MPs in Ireland dealt with climate policy recommendations of a citizens’ assembly, and what mechanisms sustainability bodies in Germany employ in their efforts to influence political decisions. References Bornemann, Basil, Marius Christen, and Paul Burger. 2024. “The Sustainable State: A Meta-Governance Framework.” Environmental Politics: 1–23. Duit, Andreas, Peter-Henning Feindt, and James Meadowcroft. 2016. “Greening Leviathan: The Rise of the Environmental State?” Environmental Politics 25(1): 1–23. Eckersly, Robyn. 2004. The Green State: Rethinking Democracy and Sovereignty. MIT Press. Hausknost, Daniel, and Marit Hammond. 2020. “Beyond the Environmental State? The Political Prospects of a Sustainability Transformation.” Environmental Politics 29(1): 1–16. Heinrichs, Harald, and Norman Laws. 2014. “‘Sustainability State’ in the Making? Institutionalization of Sustainability in German Federal Policy Making.” Sustainability 6(5): 2623–41. Koch, Max, and Martin Fritz. 2014. “Building the Eco-Social State: Do Welfare Regimes Matter?” Journal of Social Policy 43(4): 679–703. Mathis, Okka Lou, Michael Rose, Jens Newig, and Steffen Bauer. 2023. “Towards the Sustainability State? Conceptualizing National Sustainability Institutions and Their Impact on Policy-Making.” Environmental Policy and Governance 33: 313–24.
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Institutionalizing Innovations for Long-Term Policymaking? Assessing the Views of Belgian Members of Parliament | View Paper Details |
Where the Hopes of Citizens’ Assemblies Met the Reality of Politics: a Detailed Analysis of the Ireland's Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Change | View Paper Details |
Impact Pathways of National Sustainability Institutions on Policy-Making in Germany | View Paper Details |