Johanna Alkan Olsson
Social environmental scientist
Climate Science for Policy? The knowledge politics of the IPCC after Copenhagen
Author
Summary, in English
This thesis finds that the relationship between science and politics in the climate change case is complicated and convoluted. Whilst the IPCC plays a central role in mediating between the scientific community and international climate politics it is not purely a vehicle of communication. Instead it is actively involved in shaping the knowledge on climate change that becomes known in the political realm. The IPCC’s particular definition of policy relevant knowledge, and its ways of defining the science-policy relationship based on a separation of facts and values, has resulted in a tendency to favour abstract, scientific representations of climate change. This thesis has also shown, however, that this representation is often challenged backstage in the IPCC assessment process by both authors from different disciplines, and governmental representatives from different parts of the world. In turn, it also illustrates that since the Paris Agreement in 2015, there has seemingly been a shift in the way that the IPCC approaches policy relevant knowledge on climate change, through ensuring that conversations about interdisciplinarity, values, and deeply entrenched differences in how science is done are taking place, both frontstage and backstage. Overall, this thesis draws attention to how the decisions made backstage over knowledge play a key role in how climate change comes to be known as a political issue in the frontstage global climate politics. This interaction between the backstage and frontstage shows how the sites of politics can be extended to also include scientific deliberations and illustrate the co-productive relationship between the IPCC and climate change politics more broadly.
Department/s
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)
- Environmental Science
- BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
Publishing year
2018-11
Language
English
Full text
Document type
Dissertation
Publisher
Media-Tryck, Lund University, Sweden
Topic
- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
- Environmental Sciences
Keywords
- climate change
- science
- politics
- IPCC
- knowledge
- performance
Status
Published
Supervisor
- Markku Rummukainen
- Johanna Alkan Olsson
- Eva Lövbrand
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISBN: 978-91-7753-895-0
- ISBN: 978-91-7753-894-3
Defence date
30 November 2018
Defence time
10:00
Defence place
the Blue Hall, Ecology Building, Sölvegatan 37, Lund
Opponent
- Myanna Lahsen (Ass. professor)