Connections in Climate Change. A Network Analysis of the EU-funded LIFE Sub-Programme for Climate Action

Climate change constitutes a complex and urgent challenge that requires the collaboration of diverse sets of public and private actors with different interests, values and way of conceiving and managing natural, environmental, and economic resources (Juhola et Westerhoff, 2011; Bodin, 2017; Ortega Díaz and Casamadrid Gutiérrez, 2018). Collaborative approaches can provide positive contributions to governance processes and their outcomes by joining the use of the material and non-material resources, facilitating information diffusion and sharing of rules for conflict resolution (Bodin et Crona, 2009). Nevertheless, collaborative governance also testifies criticisms in multiple circumstances. Thus, studies
evidencing when and how collaborative governance is effective are in need (Crona and Bodin, 2006). In this realm, a network approach can be considered an appropriate instrument to understand better the complexity of severe environmental problems impacting on society, such as climate change (Oosterveer, 2018). As Borgatti et al. 2013 observe, differences in the structure of social networks have implications for governance and consequently for reaching its expected outcomes.
The European Union plays an essential role in climate change adaptation and mitigation processes, proposing ambitious strategies to reach environmental and climate policy targets (i.e. Europe 2020 strategy and its targets and the 7th Environment Action Programme). In the last programming period, the attention to climate change has been strategically operationalised through an innovative sub- programme for climate action within the LIFE programme, focused on climate mitigation, adaptation, governance and information. The sub-programme cofounds environmental projects proposed by partnerships of public and private actors through grants (UE Regulation No. 1293/2013).
In the frame of the scientific discussion on collaborative environmental governance, this study represents the first structural analysis based on bipartite (i.e. organisations and projects) and dynamic networks of the LIFE sub-programme on Climate Action. The study aims to explore the evolving patterns of betweenness and degree centrality measures (for individual nodes) and density and clustering (for the collaborative network), describing the critical structural features of the networks.
Specifically, the study wants to address the following research questions: Q1. To what extent, have actors been connected through the LIFE sub-programme for Climate Action? Q2. To what extent, have actors entered or exit projects by forming or ceasing partnerships? Q3. To what extent, has the sub- programme supported intermediaries (betweenness centrality)? Which are the types of actors who maximise the transmission and control of information and resources among projects? Which is the relative level of influence of these central actors? (degree centrality)? Q4. To what extent is the network cohesive (density)? Has the sub-programme cohesiveness changed during the twelve years considered? To what extent is the network clustered (clustering coefficient)? Has the clustering changed during the eleven years considered? Q5. To what extent, has the sub-programme financed partnerships across Europe? Which are the countries attesting a better performance in terms of transnational cooperation?
Data, research methodology and empirical results
In order to access detailed data and information regarding LIFE Climate Action projects, the LIFE website has been consulted (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/) where the complete database of projects is available since the first edition of the Programme. Querying by theme and period, it is possible to obtain the full list of projects carrying the desiderated characteristics and t