Federica Genovese co-authors blog arguing mass preferences for climate cooperation in the UK since EU departure need fresh thinking

DPIR’S Professor of Political Science and International Relations Federica Genovese has co-authored a blog article with the University of Glasgow’s Patrick Bayer exploring how the UK’s departure from the European Union and its evolving constitutional arrangements - especially devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales (and Northern Ireland) – influence how people in the UK think of the benefits and costs of international climate coordination.

The article is based on a 2025 published paper in the British Journal of Political Science – ‘Climate Policy Costs, Regional Politics, and Backlash against International Co-operation’

The piece emphasises that the institutional politics of place matter for climate politics, and therefore that devolution and trust in regional authorities influence how people think of more or less integration in international climate policy. 

Bayer and Genovese focus on different parts of the UK with different legislative powers and different credibility on territorial policy, and argue that carbon-legacy communities (e.g. old coal and oil towns) in Scotland and Wales – where regional authorities have more credibility than in similar areas in Northern England – have more willingness to engage liaising with international climate policymaking.

Using novel ranking exercises in geographically targeted surveys in the UK, they find that Scotland and Wales residents, even if based on (ex) carbon communities and therefore exposed to the material consequences of climate action, are more likely to support international climate cooperation than similar communities in Yorkshire and Cumbria.

In summary, the article argues that achieving meaningful international cooperation on climate is not just about aligning big national policies, but also about how sub-national units (with or without devolved subnational governments) are embedded in that process and how they themselves relate to national (central) government.