ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the redistributive aspects of political polarization in EU climate policy-making during the "Great Recession" after the economic crisis of 2009. It emphasizes that the relative gains and losses a regulatory initiative creates for firms are decisive for whether they support or oppose it, and that these gains and losses become more serious under tense economic conditions. The chapter demonstrates that an economic shock can polarize the regulatory preferences within a European industry, and that a polarization of intergovernmental bargaining is the consequence. There is an emerging consensus in the literature that the recent economic crisis had an abating effect on EU climate policy-making. The chapter presents a case that manufacturers of heavy-polluting cars had to carry a higher burden than manufacturers of small cars. The acceptance of a regulatory initiative could be increased by levelling the compliance costs for all manufacturers.
