Competing Urgencies: Translating Climate Neutrality Policy in the European Union (EU-URGE)

Every year, the effects of anthropogenic climate change become increasingly tangible worldwide, threatening livelihoods, exacerbating conflicts, and forcing populations and politicians to rethink their ways of living. Climate change requires urgent action worldwide. Given the urgency of the climate crisis, the EU mission "100 Climate-neutral and Smart Cities by 2030" (EU Cities Mission) aims to initiate a "Just Transition" to climate neutrality as an integral part of the European Green Deal. Such a transition to climate neutrality is supposed to be led by principles of social justice that "leave no one behind". The EU Mission 100 aims to mitigate climate change by supporting 100 European cities in pursuing climate neutrality by 2030.

The Polish capital, Warsaw, the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, and the Carinthian capital, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, are among the 100 cities that act as experimentation and innovation hubs and role models for all European cities. The three cities differ significantly in size, administrative and political position, budget, climate impact, and past engagement with climate issues. Warsaw stands out as the largest city with outstanding environmental governance (5th in the European Green City Index); Ljubljana gained several green awards (e.g., European Green Capital 2016) but lacks a comprehensive strategic approach to climate change, and the provincial capital Klagenfurt as the only Austrian participant in the cities in EU-Cities-Mission has invested considerable amounts of funds into mobility, buildings and renewable energy but already faces claims that climate neutrality is "not financially feasible".

Ambitious and expensive projects are part of the plans to reach climate targets, from decarbonising bus fleets to expanding sustainable and renewable energies. Yet, the path from fossil fuels to a climate-neutral city is not just a technological and infrastructural challenge but needs to reconcile and take into account highly diverse living conditions, social, cultural and economic asymmetries, as well as the visions and experiences of different social groups, each with their specific knowledge, to find viable, fair, and sustainable solutions for the city of the future.

Investigating the three participating cities of Warsaw, Ljubljana, and Klagenfurt in the EU Cities Mission offers the extraordinary opportunity to conduct comparative ethnographic research in actu to examine how EU policy is translated to the local level under different conditions. The project asks the perspective of cultural anthropology: How is climate justice prioritised in the three cities? What other urgencies (such as economic constraints, security, health, etc.) claim priority in each case? What do urgencies tell us about social hierarchies, power relations, and inequalities? And finally, how can the EU Cities Mission achieve its goals while ensuring that no one is left behind?

EU-URGE is a WEAVE project funded by the Narodowe Centrum Nauki NCN (lead), the Austrian Science Fund FWF, and the Slovenian Research Agency ARIS.