Sustainable European Welfare Societies: Assessing Linkages between Social and Environmental Policy, 2018

Across Europe, governments struggle to make welfare states sustainable. Yet, policymakers and analysts rarely spell out the conditions for achieving such sustainability. Moreover, while the pressures created by demographic ageing are readily acknowledged, the implications of climate and environmental changes for welfare states have so far not been fully theorised nor adequately explored empirically. The main purpose of this project was to begin to fill this knowledge gap by asking how researchers and policymakers can tackle issues of social welfare and environmental sustainability in coordinated and mutually supportive ways across established policy fields. The work was organised in four work packages (WPs). WP1 asked how the meaning of social welfare sustainability changes if we consider environmental concerns, employing as a starting point the literature on sustainable development. WP2 examined, using international survey data, individual attitudes on issues related to social welfare arrangements and the environment and asked whether we can detect cross-national convergence or divergence. WP3 explored what salience and meaning environmental and welfare state sustainability have across three key government departments (social affairs, finance and environment). WP4 synthesised the findings from WPs 1-3 and asked what conclusions we can draw with regard to the overarching project theme. For further information about ”Sustainable European Welfare Societies: Assessing Linkages between Social and Environmental Policy, 2018”, please contact the principal investigator.