The EU's climate neutrality goal for 2050. A comparative case study of the coal phase out in Germany and Poland

Inhaltsangabe oder Einleitung

For this Master’s thesis and the corresponding research question specifically, the nexus between the EU’s ambitions regarding climate change and the subsequent negotiations between its member states, serves as a starting point for the inquiry and analysis at hand. Germany’s and Poland’s coal dominated energy sectors seem to have played a major role in the outcome of the negotiations for the EU’s climate neutrality plan by 2050. That's why the analysis will focus on the debate about the coal-phase out in both Germany and Poland. The first chapter will provide an overview of the literature and the state of research regarding the coal phase-out in Germany and Poland. In the second chapter, the analytical framework will be presented in greater detail.

This presentation of the analytical framework includes the introduction and description of the societal approach’s core assumptions and variables. Moreover, a brief outline of other domestic politics theories and the literature the societal approach is based on will be incorporated. The second chapter will further include the development of hypotheses that will be tested empirically in the subsequent case study. Following this, the third chapter will outline the research method and the operationalisation of the variables to be investigated. Further, this chapter will provide an explanation of the time frame of the study and the rationale for the selection of source material. The fourth chapter will consist of the actual comparative case study. This study will be divided into the German and the Polish case respectively.

Each case’s examination will follow the same structure and will be comprised of three major sections. In the first section, an introduction to each case will provide general information about the state of affairs regarding coal energy on the domestic level and the government’s position on the matter. The following sections of each case study will be comprised of subchapters dedicated to the analysis of the societal approach’s three independent variables. The fifth and final chapter of this Master's thesis will take up and discuss the findings from the two case studies. The fifth and final chapter of this Master's thesis consists of a discussion of the research results. In this chapter, the findings from the empirical study are linked to the previously theorised assumptions.