Think beyond the year 2050 : A quantitative case study of the younger generations passiveimpact on local climate policymaking

Abstract: This paper aims to study the correlation between the proportion of young people and climate policymaking on a local governmental level. This is measured by how the proportion of population under 18 in municipalities affectthe amount of carbon dioxide emission reducing actions and the budgeting towards institutions of environmental health, measured as a proportion to the yearly municipal budget, in respective municipality. To help unpack the results, two theoretical frameworks are used. First, Punctuated Equilibrium theory and second, the Advocacy coalition framework. The punctuation used for this paper is derived from Greta Thunberg’s school strikes for climate, and the paper uses people under 18 as a hypothesised weaker coalition trying to affect local decision makers to reach a climate policy equilibrium, in this paper, passively. The results show no such statistically significant correlation, just a couple of weak negative regression coefficients. This means that there is no support for the hypothesised relationship between the studied variables. However, this study found that the average level of formal education in the observed municipalities had a significant impact on the emission reduction actions in a positive way and budgeting in a negative way.