Welfare regimes as enablers of just energy transitions

What is it about?

Welfare states are seen as essential tools for achieving fair transitions. The concept of synergy suggests that social-democratic regimes are better equipped to achieve these transitions. While synergy has been widely discussed in theory, its empirical verification has received less attention and has produced conflicting results. The shortcomings identified in existing research, including the mismatch between empirical testing and theoretical concepts of synergy, as well as inconsistencies in the selection of variables and biases introduced by discrete time periods, have led us to develop an improved methodological framework. We used continuous observation to analyse twenty-three European countries from 2008 to 2016. Our findings indicate that social-democratic regimes excel in social conditions but perform poorly in environmental aspects, with no clear connection between society and the environment. This result prompts us to initiate a discussion focused on the sustainability of economic growth and the potential for sustainable welfare research to address this issue.

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Photo by Rodion Kutsaiev on Unsplash

Photo by Rodion Kutsaiev on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The research focuses on the importance of welfare states in achieving just transitions and the concept of synergy in social-democratic regimes. It notes the limitations in existing research, including empirical verification challenges and methodological issues. An improved methodological framework has revealed that social-democratic regimes excel in social conditions but perform poorly in environmental aspects, prompting a discussion on sustainability and the role of welfare research in addressing these issues.