The green stakeholder

• Department of Political and Social Sciences

This session of the Political Behaviour Colloquium features a presentation by EUI Researcher Martín Alberdi.

How does providing benefits through renewable-energy policy shape politics? As governments shift from distributing costs to providing benefits, many homeowners are becoming active participants in the energy transition. I argue that subsidies channeled through homeownership redefine recipients as 'green stakeholders,' increasing support for the Green Party and membership in environmental interest groups. This redefinition triggers perceptions of energy-related economic security, enhances policy literacy, and fosters a sense of collective engagement. I examine this argument by leveraging spatial and temporal variation in the adoption of rooftop solar panels in Germany. Using administrative and panel survey data with difference-in-differences designs, I demonstrate that owning solar panels increases support for the Greens and the probability of joining an environmental group among homeowners, but not among renters. I then use supplementary survey data to explore the mechanisms linking solar panel ownership and political behavior. These findings suggest that green subsidies can help create a durable pro-reform constituency, albeit at the cost of increasing wealth inequality between recipients and non-recipients.

The Zoom link will be send upon registration.