The Socialization Potential of Carbon Markets: Comparing Norm Diffusion Processes in the EU and China.

The diffusion and internalization of norms, also referred to as socialization, is increasingly attracting political and scholarly attention with regards to climate change. One of the reasons for this is that 'standard' rational choice-based political or economic approaches to tackle climate change are failing to adequately address the issue. Surprisingly few studies so far, however, have looked into the effects of carbon markets on the global diffusion of climate change norms. This project aims to fill that gap by analyzing the potential socialization effects of the EU and Chinese emissions trading systems (ETS). The objective of this post-doctoral research project is to initialize a fine-grained comparative case study analysis of EU and Chinese companies engaged in emissions trading. The research questions are as follows. First, to what extent do the material incentives posed by the development of respectively the EU's and China's Emissions Trading System result in the internalization of climate change norms in the participating energy-intensive industries? Material incentives, in this context, refer to material (financial or other) benefits that are put in place to incentivize certain types of behaviour and change the underlying normative convictions of actors. And second, why and how do these processes differ and what is the relationship between the observed differences and (a) the design features of both ETS systems and (b) the political and institutional environment in which the design and implementation takes place (democratic multi-level vs. centralized communist party-led systems)?