Τhe political economy of green transition: The need for a two-pronged approach to address climate change and the necessity of 'science citizens'

Angelakis, Antonios; Manioudis, Manolis; Koskina, Anthi Article Τhe political economy of green transition: The need for a two-pronged approach to address climate change and the necessity of 'science citizens' Economies Provided in Cooperation with: MDPI – Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, Basel Suggested Citation: Angelakis, Antonios; Manioudis, Manolis; Koskina, Anthi (2025) : Τhe political economy of green transition: The need for a two-pronged approach to address climate change and the necessity of 'science citizens', Economies, ISSN 2227-7099, MDPI, Basel, Vol. 13, Iss. 2, pp. 1-21, https://doi.org/10.3390/economies13020023 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/329303 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. 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Clarke Received: 7 November 2024 Revised: 9 January 2025 Accepted: 15 January 2025 Published: 22 January 2025 Citation: Angelakis, A., Manioudis, M., & Koskina, A. (2025). The Political Economy of Green Transition: The Need for a Two-Pronged Approach to Address Climate Change and the Necessity of “Science Citizens”. Economies,13(2), 23. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/economies13020023 Copyright: © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/). Article The Political Economy of Green Transition: The Need for a Two-Pronged Approach to Address Climate Change and the Necessity of “Science Citizens” Antonios Angelakis 1, Manolis Manioudis 2,* and Anthi Koskina 3 1Department of Political Science, School of Social Sciences, Gallos Campus, University of Crete, 74150 Rethymno, Greece; [email protected] 2Department of Economics, University of Patras, Laboratory of Economics of Strategy, Innovation and Sustainability—LENS, University Campus, 26504 Patras, Greece 3National Observatory of Athens, 11810 Athens, Greece; [email protected] *Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: Given the need to strengthen responses to the growing challenges posed by climate change, the purpose of this paper is to explore innovative approaches and interdisciplinary perspectives for tackling these issues, focusing on the role of the institutional framework, emerging technologies, and the necessity to also encourage the involvement of small-scale actors (such as citizens). The main approaches of this paper involve, first, the technological developments spurred by the necessity to effectively address climate change problems, emphasizing macro-level dimensions in terms of the political economy of green transition and the technological components of climate solutions. Parallel to that, it provides results and presents key elements of the legal context that promoted the sustainable transition, such as the establishment of a science-based policymaking process, the development of scientific data and tools, and efforts to encourage the participation of all relevant actors in sustainable economic development. Against this background, this paper puts forward the idea that a combined approach is required to address climate change issues, integrating top-down, e.g., macro-policy approaches with bottom-up strategies (with the latter allowing for a more dynamic participation of citizens and individuals), in order to complement current institutional, legal, policy, and technological measures. The result of the analysis is that this paper provides evidence for the introduction of guidelines strengthening macro-economic approaches in addition to the concept of a “science citizen” as a major component of new problem-focused solutions. The principal results and findings offer interpretations and insights while encouraging further discussion on transitioning to a sustainable science society. In this context, the analysis results elucidate that there is evidence for an increased policy emphasis on technology development (economy-based approaches) rather than on technology diffusion and assessment, and/or the integration of key small-scale actors, such as citizens. Thus, this paper provides evidence for the need to incorporate “science citizens” as a key parameter into the technology and innovation chain (e.g., data provision) and the public policy domain. Overall, this paper outlines a holistic analysis of the international economic, technological, institutional, legal, and policy environment regarding innovation, sustainability, and the climate crisis. Keywords: climate change; sustainability; green transition; science citizen Economies 2025,13, 23 https://doi.org/10.3390/economies13020023 Economies 2025,13, 23 2 of 21 1. Introduction The unprecedented nature of the climate crisis makes it clear that humanity will have to face unrivaled challenges of an inconceivable magnitude. In this context, policymakers should find innovative ways of strengthening and maximizing communities’ resilience, taking into account the crucial economic, technological, and legal aspects of the sustainable transition as dictated by the current and dominant international political economy configurations and policy trends. Therefore, following on from that, a key research question that arises is how feasible the implementation of new policy approaches would be—to efficiently complement the existing technological as well as institutional, legal, and policy frameworks—and what key features it should incorporate. In other words, would a solution be to strengthen the existing frameworks and efforts by trying to establish a foundation that facilitates the engagement of all stakeholders concerned by climate change, including by putting the focus on allowing (and encouraging) the participation of the base of the society, i.e., citizens, as well? In trying to address this challenge, this article puts forward the idea that specific measures should be adopted to allow for citizens’ dynamic participation, to complement the dominant current macro-approaches aiming to address climate change. Hence, it focuses on discussing and examining the feasibility of such a new policy approach, as follows. Building upon the introduction in Section 1, Section 2presents the main methods of the paper, which involve a holistic analysis of the international economic, technological, institutional, and policy environments regarding innovation, sustainability, and the climate crisis. Setting the broader context from the view of political economy in Section 3, Section 4 of this paper will shed some light on the major trends in the international technology landscape with a major emphasis on technology growth and innovation as related to climate change effects. In Section 5of this paper, the major existing gaps of the legal and institutional environment regarding green transition are presented, namely, a plethora of technological and policy tools (such as are the establishment of a science-based policymaking process, the development of scientific data and tools, and efforts toward encouraging the participation of all actors concerned), which are all characterized by the absence of citizen participation. Section 6further discusses and explains the concept and multifold role of the “science citizen” under legal and technological points of view. In this respect, this paper examines, in Section 7, the “science citizen” concept as a major constituent of new problem-focused approaches and flagship bottom-up interventions, in the context of cross-boundary initiatives to address climate crisis. In the final section, Section 8, this paper summarizes the main findings, analyzing the main conclusions and interpretations along with core foresight considerations, and further issues related to an open discussion for a transition to a sustainable science society. 2. Materials and Methods The methodology adopted in this study involves a holistic and interdisciplinary analysis of the international economic, technological, institutional, and policy environment, with the aim to examine the approach adopted for utilizing technology in order to tackle climate change problems. This study integrates multiple dimensions to provide a comprehensive understanding of the issue and to provide an in-depth multidisciplinary scientific novelty. In particular, this study examines, first, the global political economy dynamics, with an emphasis on examining the literature with respect to hyperindustrialization; this part shows that hyperindustrialization has resulted in environmental degradation but has also created tools allowing us to measure and address such negative impacts on the environment. Following on from that (second), this study examines the policies adopted on technological advancement and use, showing that said policies are mainly focused on Economies 2025,13, 23 3 of 21 key players in this field (e.g., companies operating in the fields of cleantech and greentech). Thus, this paper presents a review of global patenting activity to illustrate priorities adopted regarding the role of technologies in addressing climate issues. In that respect, the patent analysis in this paper uses valid results provided from relevant studies/sources, such as the European Patent Office and World Intellectual Property Organisation. Finally (third), this paper presents the international legal obligations as well as the institutional arrangements promoting the development and application of scientific and technological approaches to address climate change, and gaps and opportunities in these frameworks, particularly concerning non-key players, such as through bottom-up (i.e., citizen) engagement. Overall, this paper assesses green policies and strategies, in conjunction to international legislation adopted in this field, as implemented in key economies. It focuses on their macro-level impact and alignment with sustainability goals; at the same time, it brings to light the need for an enhanced public policy contribution and role, despite the increasing accessibility and widespread adoption of new technologies. Building on these findings, this paper proposes a dual strategy, combining top-down macro-policy interventions with bottom-up, citizencentered initiatives and participation, that should, in any case, be effectively integrated into official policymaking processes by the relevant authorities. 3. The Global Political Economy and Industrialization’s Impact on Climate Change The wider international political economy context sets the stage for understanding the deep environmental challenges linked to escalating industrialization and globalization. However, although it is undisputed that, on the one hand, economic integration has strongly contributed to environmental decline (Section 3.1), it is, at the same time, true that industrialization has also provided precision tools enabling scientists and decisionmakers to measure and address the environmental impacts of hyperglobalization (Section 3.2). 3.1. Economic Integration and Environmental Decline Globalization, as the most critical economic phenomenon of the 20th century, is associated with an unprecedented growth of international trade and Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). In addition, the era of globalization is marked by financialization, a process where financial markets, financial institutions, and financial elites gain power over economic policy (Palley,2007). In this sense, globalization is implied to further intensify economic activity as capitalism, according to Marx and Engels, “creates a world after his own image” (Marx & Engels,1848/1888) globalization has been developing in recent decades and has been associated with the need of many states to expand their economic activities to improve the social welfare of society (Omifade et al.,2021). In this sense, globalization was “upgraded” to hyperglobalization. However, hyperglobalization is in crisis. The signs of this crisis are numerous. The most critical issues are the recent trade war between the United States of America and China (Jeong & Lee,2021), the Ukraine war, and the recent war in the Middle East. This reality is associated with a transition from the increasing global economic integration to geoeconomic fragmentation (GEF), which is transformed into a critical mega-threat of the international economy. 1 Furthermore, GEF is intermingled with various mega-trends. A crucial trend among them is ever-growing global income inequalities that are at their peak as the wealth of the top 1% has increased drastically after the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Ghosh (2022), the global share of the poorest half of the world’s population is around half of what it was during the first decades of the nineteenth century. Concentrating capital in a few multinational corporations is a major force leading to inequality among states. The inequality is intensified through the de-regulation of markets imposed through financialization, leading to the decline in Economies 2025,13, 23 4 of 21 public wealth across the globe. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic led to stagnation and recession and caused a reversal of the effects of globalization, known as de-globalization (Sutkowski,2020). This intensification, which is associated with what is now called hyperglobalization (Rodrik,2018), has important implications for the natural environment (Clapp,2014). Many studies link globalization with pollution (Rafidandi & Usman,2019;Acheampong et al., 2019). The growth of industrial activity and conventional energy consumption led to greenhouse gas emissions, transforming climate change into a climate crisis. The climate crisis and environmental degradation are significant mega-threats to the international economy. Climate crisis is associated with the “triple trap” of global warming, biodiversity crisis, and pollution. More specifically, 14 of the 15 warmest years recorded have occurred during the first 24 years of the 21st century. Moreover, the seven hottest days of the past 170 years were experienced in July 2024, and one million species are at immediate risk of extinction. Lastly, pollution levels from chemicals and hazardous waste threaten health, environmental protection, and natural resource management. The “triple trap” of the climate, biodiversity, and pollution crises illustrates the immediate need to go beyond economic growth and prepare the ground toward a green transition (Aranitou et al.,2024). Increasing environmental degradation and the environmental impact of economic activities exacerbate the need to reduce environmental impact and resource use to allow future generations to meet their own needs. Thus, the transition of economic policies from the traditional target of economic growth (mainly GDP growth) to sustainable development is a remarkable shift in development studies and will direct the policy’s future policy implications. Against this background, technology, developed in the context of hyperglobalization, has evidently driven economic development, while also being used in activities harmful to the environment. Importantly though, technology (i.e., as developed in this specific context) also provides revolutionary tools to address such climate challenges. 3.2. A “Hyperglobalized” Technology Also Enables Climate Challenge Measurement Based on climate change science, the challenges that societies are facing in terms of long-term changes in temperatures and weather patterns are radical and devastating. According to Noam Chomsky, humans are facing major problems today that are really different to any that have arisen before in human history (Chomsky et al.,2020), as extreme weather events create unhabitable conditions in vast areas of the Earth (ibid.). Indeed, new technological advances and earth-orbiting satellites assist scientists to collect and analyze data on dramatic climate change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change available data (IPCC,2023), global greenhouse gas emissions have increased with ongoing contributions arising from unsustainable energy use, land use, lifestyles and patterns of consumption, and production across regions, countries, and among individuals. Overall, human activities, mainly through emissions of greenhouse gases, have caused global warming, with the global surface temperature reaching 1.1 ◦ C above 1850–1900 in 2011–2020 (ibid.). Similarly, based on NASA data 2 (NASA,2024), the current warming is taking place at a fast rate not seen in the past 10,000 years, while the rate of change since the mid-20th century is unprecedented 3 . For example, the planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century, and this is mainly driven by increased carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. Additionally, the global sea level rose about 8 inches in the last century, and glaciers are retreating at a global level. Human-caused climate change is affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe (IPCC,2023). This is causing widespread impacts and damages to Economies 2025,13, 23 5 of 21 nature, societies, and people. Responding to emerging challenges, scientists, governments, international organizations, communities, and citizens are developing initiatives, solutions, and ideas to cope with climate challenges. Aggregate technological progress provides new tools with which to collect and analyze various sources of information about the planet and its climate, illustrating shifting patterns of climate change. Similarly technological development unfolds new technological solutions focused on environmental sustainability and energy transition (cleantech and green tech). Therefore, it is clear that the technological advancements at our disposal enable the precise measurement and analysis of environmental impacts, based on reliable series of data (unstructured and structured). Be that as it may, the critical question that arises is whether such scientific and technological tools are being utilized in an efficient manner to address and mitigate the underlying causes of climate change. 4. Utilizing Technology to Tackle the Issue? Emphasizing the Green Transition Reality shows that, against the background of the pressing need to address climate issues and utilize technology to tackle the environmental challenges, governments have mainly put the emphasis on the green transition (Section 4.1), as demonstrated by the various policy frameworks adopted to promote sustainable development. A key example of this is related to the supportive green policies, the relevant policy frameworks, and the technology trends revealed by the patenting activity that plays a key role in encouraging cleantech innovation and supporting the adoption of green technologies, inter alia (Section 4.2). 4.1. Policies Focused on Enhancing Green Transition Over the past few years, key developed economies have pursued policy schemes to enhance green energy, green technologies, and industrial sectors, with emphasis on cleantech. Energy policies and sustainability programs are usually combined with several policy initiatives within the frame of interlinked public policies such as technology and innovation policies, industrial policies, and transport policies. The direction of green policies both through large-scale green technology plans but also within interlinked policies, are increasingly characterized by macro-policy mechanisms that compile the major building blocks of green transition policies, inter alia, as follows: legal frameworks and new institutions, infrastructures and investments, technological development and innovation, business framework and funding, skill empowerment, demand-oriented incentives and measures, tax incentives, and international collaboration. Nevertheless, an integral part of green policies is increasingly involving targeted and topic-focused measures and initiatives, advanced technological tools (e.g., geophysical observatories, software systems based on Artificial Intelligence for analyzing satellite data, atmosphere monitoring tools, advanced algorithms), and new legal frameworks and institutions (e.g., legal frameworks for the use of open data). A large part of the green policies during the last years has been focused on green economy and sustainable development along with the improvement of resource efficiency. Moreover, circular economy constitutes a major part of policy priorities for a wide range of green policy strategies, especially regarding sustainability and resource management development. On top of that, new innovative models for green entrepreneurship have emerged, while several initiatives at the national and international level are emphasizing sustainable economic growth (Han & Gao,2024). Overall, large-scale green technology plans set the framework and provide tools in innumerable ways. For example, the European Climate Law 4 (July 2021) and the European Green Deal 5 constitute fundamental Economies 2025,13, 23 6 of 21 institutional and policy initiatives to accelerate green transition in the dominant practices at the level of infrastructure, production, consumption, and energy resources. The European Union has set climate neutrality as a target by 2050 through targeted strategies for enhancing emissions cutting (reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% for EU countries by 2030), supporting technology development in green solutions and protecting the natural environment 6 . Similarly, the Green Deal Industrial Plan 7 aims to revitalize the competitiveness of Europe’s net-zero industry and to accelerate the transition to climate neutrality through the support of manufacturing for net-zero technologies. In the USA, the Inflation Reduction Act 8 (IRA) comes into law in August 2022. The United States of America invests nearly USD 400 billion (federal funding) for clean energy through the IRA with the aim of net-zero emissions and limiting carbon emissions by 2030. In tandem, a considerable part of the investments is directed to the support of the country’s innovation capacity, economic competitiveness, domestic manufacturing capacity, and R&D support in key sectors, such as carbon capture and storage and clean hydrogen (McKinsey & Company,2022). The IRA is part of a set of investment bills that have been deployed over the past few years, exceeding USD 2 trillion, since 2021 (together with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the CHIPS and Science Act)9. People’s Republic of China also exhibits increasing technology and production capacities in cleantech innovation activity. A wide set of investments, policies, programs, and tools (e.g., Green Bond Principles, industrial clusters, pilot demonstrations) have been designed and implemented to pursue research and development, energy transition, and carbon neutrality. In 2022, China 10 released its 14th Five-Year-Plan on Renewable Energy Development (2021–2025) (World Economic Forum,2023), which involves a 50% increase in renewable energy generation (from 2.2 trillion kWh in 2020 to 3.3 trillion kWh in 2025) and promotes a renewable electricity consumption share of 33% up to 2025 along with a target of deriving 50% of the country’s incremental electricity and energy consumption from renewables during 2021–2025. Several fields of technology development also involve large-scale renewable energy bases, distributed wind and photovoltaic infrastructures, integrated systems of water and solar bases, and the development of offshore windmills in several areas (ibid.). Besides the large-scale strategies and green policies, green transition requires wider socio-economic transformations with shifts in several legal, institutional, and social parameters (e.g., social diffusion, citizens’ engagement, open data exploitation). According to Schot and Kanger (2018), interconnected social, economic, and ecological challenges necessitate fundamental changes in a wide range of socio-technical systems (e.g., energy, mobility, water, food). For example, the debate about redesigning the direction of modern industrial policies has already been enriched with insights, proposals, measures, and initiatives for deliberately sustainable, welfare-oriented, innovation-oriented, and holistic policy mechanisms based on the cooperation between government agencies and private and third-party sectors (Mazzucato & Rodrik,2023). Moreover, the availability and the coalescence of multiple and complementary technological tools co-evolves with legal change and leaves room for new forms of social and citizen participation into the science and technology domains. As long as the large-scale green policies are crucial for developing the core technological and innovation framework as well as the legal environment, the topic-focused acceleration mechanisms aiming to enhance social diffusion and citizens’ engagement also constitute a prerequisite for social embeddedness for green technologies and green transition. Nonetheless, policy initiatives and institutional arrangements unfold potential frameworks of action to manage climate change. In his work to analyze global trade and world economy, Dani Rodrik (2018) states that market-supporting institutions are not unique Economies 2025,13, 23 7 of 21 and there is not a limited range of plausible variation in institutions that might differ significantly across countries. Taken further, this evidence-based argument indicates that institutional setups might be re-configured and recombined to tackle several issues and challenges of social inequality, social insecurity and justice, or climate change. In a nutshell, institutional design, institutional setups, and organizational changes are major complements for efficiently deploying technological progress and tackling social challenges. Moreover, according to Mazzucato (2018b), innovation has a rate and a direction. As a result, innovation policy design should be inextricably interlinked to the increasing need to cope with emerging challenges such as climate change. In this respect, mission-oriented policies are defined as systemic public policies that draw on frontier knowledge to achieve specific goals and to confront social challenges (Mazzucato,2018a,2021). Overall, the legal and institutional arrangements as well the direction of technological change and innovation constitute crucial parameters to create unique and adjusted technology-enabled approaches to tackle social challenges and, more specifically, to cope with the dramatic climate crisis. 4.2. Technological Change and Patents: A Key Aspect of the Policies Adopted Regarding technological change, global patenting activity, and emerging patent trends illustrate an overall picture on technological progress in the fields of sustainable technologies, cleantech, and greentech. Cleantech and green technologies involve a wide array of technological applications such as low-carbon electricity production, low-carbon transportation, energy efficiency in the buildings sector and the manufacturing sector, air pollution control technologies, and waste management (OECD,2019). It should be mentioned that there are different methodologies available to identify green patents based on the code classification (ENV-TECH developed by OECD, IPC Green Inventory by WIPO, and Y02/Y04S Tagging scheme by EPO) (Favot et al.,2023). As a result, in several cases, the methodologies should be used in combination in order to obtain a complete and precise picture of general trends. According to Favot et al. (2023), for instance, ENV-TECH and IPC Green Inventory should be used in combination to identify more green patents, with the inclusion of the “CPC” ENV-TECH green codes (when applicable) while the mutual integration of the three methodologies is recommended. For example, a study by Rivera León et al. (2023) based on the IPC Green Inventory of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), examined four broad categories of green energy technologies, including alternative energy production technologies, energy conservation technologies, and green transportation in the period 2005–2017. The findings revealed that energy innovation-related patenting activity first expanded exponentially up until 2013, both in total number of patent families and PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty 11 ) international patent applications in green energy technologies (ibid.). Most of the green energy technologies have seen a downward trend in the annual number of patents published since 2012 (e.g., nuclear power generation technologies and renewable energy technologies, such as solar and wind energy, and fuel cells). On the other side, according to Rivera León et al. (2023), the number of patents in energy conservation technologies and green transportation technologies has continued to grow, although at a slower rate. According to a joint study 12 published by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) (EPO & IEA,2021), the number of patents related to low-carbon energy technologies around the world grew by an average rate of 3.3% per year in the 2017–2019 period. Since 2017, there is increasing innovation activity in low-carbon energy (LCE) regarding crosscutting technology areas such as batteries, hydrogen, and smart grids as well as carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) (ibid.). Economies 2025,13, 23 8 of 21 More recently, according to the recent joint report 13 by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and European Patent Office (EPO) (EIB & EPO,2024), there has been an increase in patents related to technologies focused on environmental sustainability and energy transition. Based on the European Patent Office classification, cleantech patents involve six categories: low-carbon energy 14 ; climate change mitigation technologies (CCMTs) related to transport and buildings, in manufacturing and ICT; climate change adaptation solutions; smart grids; waste and wastewater treatment technologies; and CO 2 capture and storage solutions (ibid.). Overall, over 750,000 international patent families (IPFs) in clean and sustainable technologies have been filed worldwide, which represent nearly 12% of all IPFs (EIB & EPO,2024). Low-carbon energy technologies, encompassing renewable energy generation and energy storage solutions like batteries, constitute the predominant cleantech sector. According to the EIB and EPO (2024) report data, followed by a decline up to 2012, this sector accounted for over 78,000 IPFs, representing 32.1% of all IPFs in cleantech from 2017 to 202115 (ibid.). Based on the WIPO’s Green Technology Book (2023), there is a wide range of climate change mitigation solutions based on mature and emerging innovation technologies available. According to WIPO data (2023), inventions in climate change mitigation technologies increased fivefold between 1995 and 2011, while the period 2014–2017 was characterized by a slowdown (due to factors related to fossil fuel prices and technological maturity of climate mitigation technologies, among others). Since then, there is an observable upward trend (WIPO,2023). In terms of technology areas, indicatively, patenting activity increased between 2017 and 2020 in low-carbon energy technologies as a result of the activity in the fuel switching, energy efficiency, and crosscutting technologies, such as hydrogen and batteries for transport. Consequently, it seems that the increasing rate of investments on green technologies is correlated with the increasing patenting rates of the international patent families (IPFs) in clean and sustainable technologies worldwide. Part of this increase is tightly interlinked with the green policies being implemented in recent years in key developed economies and the institutional arrangements pursuing the deployment of these technologies by paving the way through new governance schemes and by eliminating technological and commercialization uncertainty. All of the above developments stem from economic and developmental dynamics, while also reflecting the increasing global awareness of climate change challenges. However, in reality, states have, in light of this awareness, also undertaken significant commitments under international law to use all the available scientific and technological resources to address climate change effectively, and agreed on duties that extend well beyond the mere promotion of technologies for a green transition. 5. International Law: Optimizing the Use of Science—Enabling Citizen Engagement States adopted the policies presented above, also grounded in their agreement at the international level to use science to tackle climate change. Indeed, the creation and use of green technology and climate-related scientific knowledge was actively promoted by the international community following the adoption of binding law instruments aimed at adapting to climate change issues by increasing the resilience of societies. Such developments were encouraged in two ways, namely via the establishment of (first) a clear obligation of states to use scientific data within the context of policymaking and (second) the setting up of dedicated bodies empowered to promote the creation and utilization of scientific information; said frameworks are, however, characterized by the limited role and Economies 2025,13, 23 15 of 21 is interlinked with several aspects of unpredictability and the combinatory dynamics of technological, economic, political, and geostrategic dimensions (Angelakis & Manioudis, 2024). In recent years, new policy formulas and new generation policies have been deployed for sustainability with the aim to tackle climate crisis and subsequent challenges. Their major features combine macro-schemes with horizontal macro-effects and several problemfocused mechanisms and bottom-up interventions (e.g., programs and initiatives engaging decentralized technologies, organizations, systems, and new science tools such as datamonitoring platforms and satellite systems) (Table 1). In this respect, policies that efficiently tackle climate change effects involve aspects of public and private investments, science and technological progress, economic and social transformations in terms of business practices, production models, consumption patterns, and energy paradigms. Table 1. Two-pronged policy approaches. Policy Approach Dimensions and Parameters Current macro-policy approaches Energy and technological infrastructures; legal frameworks; research infrastructures; technologies; funding tools; institutions; policy measures; international cooperation; international antagonisms and tensions Bottom-up approaches Legal and institutional frameworks securing and encouraging citizens’ participation; emerging and decentralized technologies; open platforms; open technologies; science tools and systems; smart sensors and data; data provided/assessed by science citizens; need for international cooperation Source: own processing. However, given both the current legal framework and technological developments that all allow for a more dynamic participation of individuals, it is more than apparent now that top-down efforts should be combined with (a more dynamic) bottom-up involvement. Namely, the pathway to managing climate change in the future should incrementally be based on a two-pronged policy approach with wide-scale top-down policy strategies compiling legal, institutional, and technological parameters as well as bottom-up topicfocused approaches engaging local communities, social groups, and citizens (Table 1). More precisely, integrating top-down and bottom-up strategies to empower the “science citizen” requires actionable policy tools and clearly defined goals. In the short term, governments and organizations could give priority to creating user-friendly platforms where individuals (i.e., citizens) may upload environmental data, using their own sensors or amateur technology, such as air or soil quality measurements; existing programs or initiatives could be used as a blueprint. To ensure inclusivity, free training on AI-topics, data-driven applications, and digital tools could be provided to bridge the digital divide. In addition to this, policy frameworks should ensure that the unstructured or structured data provided by citizens are controlled and integrated into decision-making processes, coupled with incentives like public recognition to encourage active participation. Following this line of reasoning, governments should aim at promoting and encouraging, in the next decades, the widespread participation of citizens; they should also ensure that citizen-driven environmental information is taken into account in local and national policies through standardized frameworks. Relatedly, the design and deployment of policies focused on integrating top-down and bottom-up strategies to empower the “science citizen” approaches, involve crucial aspects such as the formulation of appropriate legal frame- Economies 2025,13, 23 16 of 21 works, the support of technologies and technological applications with open and inclusive and participatory character, the formulation of infrastructures, and the enhancement of collaborations, synergies, and citizen networks initiatives (Figure 1). Based on this, the development of “science citizen ecosystems” emerges as an additional precondition for an evolving and dynamic process of science citizens’ involvement. For example, facilitated access to high-performance computing and software focused on AI and science (OECD, 2023) constitutes a crucial element of such an ecosystem as well as the availability of open research data across various fields (e.g., climate) through the formulation of federated data infrastructures (e.g., GAIA-X) and the large-scale creation of findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) data (ibid.). Economies 2025, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 16 of 21 research data across various fields (e.g., climate) through the formulation of federated data infrastructures (e.g., GAIA-X) and the large-scale creation of findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) data (ibid.). Figure 1. The two levels and the sub-categories of the two-pronged policy approaches. Source: own processing. In particular, with respect to the latter, the path to a “science society” is tightly interlinked with the active encouragement and engagement of citizens roles regarding the use, adoption, and diffusion of technologies and information, in addition to the assessment of climate policies and related measures. Following on from that, the involvement of “science citizens” would actively contribute to the policymaking as well as to the progress of technology and science, with the aim to better address sustainability challenges of local, regional, and global concern. 8. Conclusions: An Open Discussion for a Sustainable Science Society This paper aims to explore new approaches of tackling challenges related to the climate crisis through interdisciplinary perspectives and novel types of interventions focusing on the role of the institutional framework and new technologies. Concurrently, the present paper provides novel insights into new directions related to the multi-layer aspects of designing and implementing policy approaches to tackle climate crisis with the use of emerging technologies and institutional reconfigurations. For example, the development of actions focusing on facilitating the engagement of citizens toward the acceleration of scientific discoveries has been a core issue related to data collection and processing activities (Bonney et al., 2016). Moreover, there is a vast potential for citizens contribution through the exploitation of data, advanced algorithms, and Artificial Intelligence (OECD, 2023). Data provided by science citizens might contribute to the more effective solutions of current societal challenges in several areas, such as climate change and infectious diseases. Technological direction is an important aspect of the opportunities provided for users to contribute to social activities, such as science for climate monitoring. From this perspective, several future research directions could emerge under the spectrum of the technologies through which citizens can actively contribute to the science domain. Further avenues for research include, among others, the need to identify and develop citizens inclusive technologies and technological applications that facilitate the collection and sharing of data and ideas from the crowd and citizens activity. Overall, the identification of the major pre-conditions for the formulation of “science citizen ecosystems”, including, inter alia, digital infrastructures, federated open data, new inclusive and accessible technological applications, and science citizens engagement, constitute a major area of further research. This paper aims to elucidate new approaches that involve practical steps and policyrelevant tools. The practical steps to operationalize the “science citizen” concept involve the design and deployment of topic-focused policy initiatives to support citizen Figure 1. The two levels and the sub-categories of the two-pronged policy approaches. Source: own processing. In particular, with respect to the latter, the path to a “science society” is tightly interlinked with the active encouragement and engagement of citizens’ roles regarding the use, adoption, and diffusion of technologies and information, in addition to the assessment of climate policies and related measures. Following on from that, the involvement of “science citizens” would actively contribute to the policymaking as well as to the progress of technology and science, with the aim to better address sustainability challenges of local, regional, and global concern. 8. Conclusions: An Open Discussion for a Sustainable Science Society This paper aims to explore new approaches of tackling challenges related to the climate crisis through interdisciplinary perspectives and novel types of interventions focusing on the role of the institutional framework and new technologies. Concurrently, the present paper provides novel insights into new directions related to the multi-layer aspects of designing and implementing policy approaches to tackle climate crisis with the use of emerging technologies and institutional reconfigurations. For example, the development of actions focusing on facilitating the engagement of citizens toward the acceleration of scientific discoveries has been a core issue related to data collection and processing activities (Bonney et al.,2016). Moreover, there is a vast potential for citizens’ contribution through the exploitation of data, advanced algorithms, and Artificial Intelligence (OECD,2023). Data provided by science citizens might contribute to the more effective solutions of current societal challenges in several areas, such as climate change and infectious diseases. Technological direction is an important aspect of the opportunities provided for users to contribute to social activities, such as science for climate monitoring. From this perspective, several future research directions could emerge under the spectrum of the technologies through which citizens can actively contribute to the science domain. Further avenues for research include, among others, the need to identify and develop citizens’ inclusive technologies and technological applications that facilitate the collection and sharing of data and ideas from the crowd and citizens’ activity. Overall, the identification of the major pre-conditions for the formulation of “science citizen ecosystems”, including, inter Economies 2025,13, 23 17 of 21 alia, digital infrastructures, federated open data, new inclusive and accessible technological applications, and science citizens’ engagement, constitute a major area of further research. This paper aims to elucidate new approaches that involve practical steps and policyrelevant tools. The practical steps to operationalize the “science citizen” concept involve the design and deployment of topic-focused policy initiatives to support citizen engagement, data collection, data sharing, and collaboration. More research programs and large-scale initiatives could further mobilize citizen participation in science activity to build-up background knowledge and enhance the use of science education. The consolidation and deployment of new policy tools and actionable steps (e.g., integrated systems and open interoperable data platforms with which to collect, analyze, and predict climate crisis trends and challenges through advanced algorithms and topic-focused large language models/LLMs) include the incorporation of inclusive technological directions into the core research and funding priorities for research and technological and innovation policies. Then, the successful integration of top-down and bottom-up strategies constitutes a major pre-condition for the formulation of a large-scale and long-term strategic orientation not only to tackle but also to predict challenges and to prevent large-scale climate crisis effects. Expanding and facilitating the role of citizens and society at large could be a near-future policy goal for topic-focused policy approaches. Following this perspective, this paper aims to also elucidate the importance of those novel approaches for tackling “grand social challenges”. According to Voegtlin et al. (2022), “grand societal challenges (GSCs) represent complex, multi-level, multi-dimensional problems that require concerted efforts by various actors (public, private, and non-profit–to be successfully addressed” (Voegtlin et al.,2022, p. 1). In this respect, science citizens’ policy initiatives might facilitate the contribution of citizens toward addressing emerging challenges. Moreover, the science citizens’ policy initiatives might be aligned with the deployment of robust innovation ecosystems, as the latter requires comprehensive approaches of engaging and mobilizing regional actors and identifying their needs and priorities toward sustainable development (Manioudis & Angelakis,2023). The future research directions to further delve into the concept of the “science citizen” include three integrated areas: (i) which technologies and technology areas might be more compatible with encouraging the involvement of citizens in the science domain and the thematic areas of climate monitoring, (ii) which major institutional and legal fundamental parameters will facilitate and encourage citizens to participate in “science citizen networks” and contribute to science activity, and (iii) which are the appropriate policy tools with which to formulate “science citizen ecosystems” with the perspective to further establish computing infrastructures, to enhance AI-based tools and advanced algorithms, to provide access to open data, multimodal data systems, and open platforms, to further develop and adopt accessible, inclusive, and collaborative technological applications, and to establish supportive legal frameworks, citizen networks, policy initiatives, and measures and organizational configurations. The latter is also interlinked with the perspective of the operationalization of the “science citizen” concept through the deployment of “science citizen ecosystems”. These ecosystems could be based on the capacity of societies to build a framework of action points to pursue climate monitoring, provide inputs for climate science, and thus contribute to tackling climate crisis effects. Overall, the emergence of “science citizen ecosystems” could crucially contribute to societies’ climate resilience by approaching science as a public good with widely beneficial outcomes. Author Contributions: All authors contributed equally to the sections of the paper (conceptualization; methodology; writing—original draft preparation and review and editing). All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Economies 2025,13, 23 18 of 21 Funding: This paper was financed by the funding program “MEDICUS” of the University of Patras. University of Patras, Special Account for Research Funds, Funding number: 83744. Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable. Data Availability Statement: This paper did not use datasets. No new data were created or generated during this study. The secondary data presented in this paper are available in the relevant studies/reports provided in the References. Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Notes 1 For GEF see: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/Staff-Discussion-Notes/Issues/2023/01/11/Geo-Economic-Fragmentation -and-the-Future-of-Multilateralism-527266 (accessed on 2 July 2024). 2Available at: https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/ (accessed on 1 August 2024). 3Available at: https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/evidence/ (accessed on 8 August 2024). 4Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32021R1119 (accessed on 3 September 2024). 5Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en (accessed on 1 June 2024). 6 Available at: https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal _ en (accessed on 1 July 2024). 7 The four pillars of the Plan are: a predictable and simplified regulatory environment, speeding up access to finance, enhancing skills, and open trade for resilient supply chains. Available at: https://commission.europa.eu/document/41514677-9598-4d89-a5 72-abe21cb037f4_en (accessed on 10 June 2024). 8Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Inflation-Reduction-Act-Guidebook.pdf (accessed on 16 August 2024). 9Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/the-inflation-reduction-act-heres-whats-in-it (accessed on 1 July 2024). 10 Available at: https://www.weforum.org/publications/fostering-effective-energy-transition-2023/in-full/china/ (accessed on 12 September 2024). 11 Available at: https://www.wipo.int/pct/en/ (accessed on 21 August 2024). 12 The study is based on the EPO’s dedicated classification scheme for climate mitigation technologies. The analysis consists of 372 cross-sectional classes that cover specific clean energy technologies that have been applied to over 3 million documents (EPO & IEA,2021). 13 According to the report (EIB & EPO,2024), clean and sustainable technologies, often referred to as cleantech or green tech, involve a broad range of processes, products, and services that aim to reduce or eliminate negative environmental impacts. 14 Low-carbon energy technologies, including those for generating power from renewable sources and energy storage solutions, are the most prevalent in the cleantech patent landscape, accounting for 78,000 of the total 244,000 patent families recorded between 2017 and 2021 (EIB & EPO,2024). 15 Based on the data of EIB and EPO (2024)’s report, clean and sustainable manufacturing (more than 43,000 IPFs between 2017 and 2021) and clean tech solutions related to buildings, ICT, and adaptation to climate change are following while climate-friendly hydrogen-related technologies, wastewater treatment and waste management, smart grids, carbon capture and storage are the smaller sectors within clean and sustainable technologies (less than 10,000 IPFs between 2017 and 2021). In geographical terms, the report describes two distinct recent phases in cleantech patenting (i) the period 2006–2012, driven mainly by the EU and Japan (27% and 26% of the total increase in IPFs); and (ii) 2017–2021, led by China (70% of the surge in IPFs applications), followed by the EU (16%) (ibid.). 16 Available at https://unfccc.int/files/essential _ background/background _ publications _ htmlpdf/application/pdf/conveng.pdf (accessed on 1 July 2024). 17 Available at https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.pdf (accessed on 2 October 2024). 18 Available at https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/english_paris_agreement.pdf (accessed on 21 September 2024). 19 Available at https://archive.ipcc.ch/docs/MOU _ between _ UNEP _ and _ WMO _ on _ IPCC-1989.pdf (accessed on 11 September 2024 ). 20 Available at https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/nl7/300/05/pdf/nl730005.pdf (accessed on 7 October 2024). 21 Available at https://express.adobe.com/page/PdwxV8xn0HrCh/ (accessed on 2 September 2024). 22 Available at: https://unfccc.int/ttclear/misc _ /StaticFiles/gnwoerk _ static/NAD _ EBG/54b3b39e25b84f96aeada52180215ade/ b8ce50e79b574690886602169f4f479b.pdf (accessed on 12 September 2024) 23 Available at https://www.copernicus.eu/en/access-data (accessed on 19 September 2024). 24 Available at https://unece.org/DAM/env/pp/documents/cep43e.pdf (accessed on 17 September 2024). 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