ESRC IAA – How to conceptualise and manage conflicts of interest in climate governance: Engaging EU policymakers and NGOs to develop a new research agenda

The strategies of the fossil fuel industry (FFI) to undermine climate policy represent a major barrier to addressing the global climate emergency. Despite this, FFI engagement in climate policymaking remains widespread.

This project aims to support relationship-building with EU stakeholders, disseminate research findings and support their translation into policy and practice, and co-create future research on how COIs can be conceptualised and managed in EU climate governance.

We will achieve our aims by addressing three objectives:

1) Facilitate discussions on COIs in EU climate policymaking and support EU policymakers in their thinking and reflections on practice to address COIs;

2) Disseminate and discuss findings from UK research on COI, explore their relevance, transferability, and implications for EU climate policymaking, and consider how lessons from tobacco control can inform future approaches to managing COIs;

3) Co-develop ideas for future research focused on EU climate governance through a process of co-creation to conceptualise research topics, data collection approaches, and plans for dissemination, and explore options to secure funding.

Through an existing partnership with FoEE, we will engage EU policymakers and CSOs working at the intersection of climate governance and corporate accountability, including Fossil Free Politics, a coalition led by FoEE to ensure EU climate policymaking operates in the public interest.

This project builds on empirical research exploring how policymakers conceptualise and manage conflicts of interest (COIs), alongside conceptual work drawing lessons from tobacco control to strengthen safeguards against undue industry influence. We will use these insights to design and deliver two stakeholder workshops for EU policymakers and key actors, facilitating evidence-informed discussions with the aim of informing innovative governance tools, ensuring climate policy decisions operate in the public interest.