On 29 April, Gus Greenstein and Diego Salazar-Morales will join ClimateFiGS for a talk on how bureaucratic professionalism shapes national CO₂ emissions.
Date: 29 April 2026
Time: 12:00-13:30
Location: REC - B9.22
Why do some countries succeed in reducing emissions more effectively than others?
Climate policy discussions often focus on targets, technologies, and political ambition. Yet an equally important question receives far less attention: who actually implements climate policy, and how capable they are of doing so. This talk explores the role of government bureaucracies in shaping climate mitigation outcomes across countries, asking whether institutional capacity inside the state itself influences national CO₂ emissions trajectories.
bureaucratic professionalism as the missing puzzle piece
Drawing on comparative data from 125 countries between 2012 and 2020, the speakers examine how features such as merit-based recruitment, career stability, and protection from political interference affect the functioning of climate policy systems. The presentation highlights the mechanisms through which administrative structures may influence mitigation performance and invites discussion on what this means for designing effective climate governance frameworks worldwide.
About Gus Greenstein
Greenstein is Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Administration at Leiden University. His research focuses on environmental governance and public administration, examining how organizational structures and management practices shape the performance of environmental agencies. He works with both quantitative and qualitative methods, with projects on topics such as deforestation in Brazil, global forest regulation, World Bank environmental policy, and development finance at USAID. Gus is on the Steering Committee of the ECPR Standing Group on Environmental Politics and a Research Fellow at the Earth Systems Governance Project. He holds a PhD from Stanford University, an MPhil from Oxford, and a BA from Amherst College.
About Diego Salazar-Morales
Salazar-Morales is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Public Administration, Leiden University. His research examines the institutional conditions shaping policy success in the Global South, combining econometrics, qualitative methods, and postcolonial perspectives. He has held positions at Ulster University, the Hertie School, LSE IDEAS, King’s College London, and others. His work is informed by policy experience in Peru’s Ministry of Education and National Planning Centre, and he has published in leading journals including Governance and Public Management Review. Diego is founder of the Instituto de Estudios Políticos Andinos (IEPA) and co-founder of the Observatory of Executive Power.