High Trust Network for Ambitious Climate Action

The project is completed. Through the establishment of a Hight Trust Network (HTN) of leading conservative think tanks and climate policy makers, primarily in Central and Eastern Europe, the project wanted to enable dialogue on climate issues throughout all segments of society, forming the discursive basis for effective climate action.

Project

To achieve effective climate action, all segments of society need to be included in the respective dialogue. This holds especially true for actors whose opinions on climate change issues are not necessarily congruent, namely conservative parties and climate policy makers. The project aimed to promote an informed dialogue between them.

It did so by setting up the High Trust Network (HTN), which included primarily Central and Eastern European stakeholders. The HTN was led by three research institutes: the conservative think tanks Szazadveg Foundation (Hungary) and Sobieski Institute (Poland) on the one hand, and Ecologic Institute (Germany) on the other hand. The members of the HTN were selected by consensus, the implementing research institutes agreed on criteria and suggested and discussed candidates accordingly.

Crowds in central Warsaw (c) pixabay.com

The project contributed to anchoring climate and energy issues firmly in the conservative debate across Central and Eastern Europe, was able to build trust between the parties, and promoteed mutual understanding. The Network members acted as multipliers by passing on the discussion and insights to their constituencies, and thus fostered ambitious and effective climate policy of conservative parties.