CLIMATE AND EARTH
SYSTEM SCIENCES
Photo: UHH/Denstorf
25 September 2024
Photo: Dr. Mrunali Damania
We are proud to announce the successful disputation of our SICSS member Emilie D'Amico. Emilie earned the summa cum laude honorary title for her doctoral thesis.
Her dissertation “The making of net-zero cities: assembling discourses, performances and instruments in global urban climate governance” was supervised by Prof. Dr. Stefan Cihan Aykut (Universität Hamburg) and Prof. Dr. Cathrin Zengerling (Universität Freiburg).
Emilie's PhD research explored the political process behind thousands of cities adopting "net-zero emissions" goals for mid-century. Through ethnographic observations of COPs and interviews with urban practitioners, she highlighted how international climate summits have influenced these commitments and how cities are collaborating within transnational city networks to operationalize them. Emilie's findings further shed light on major controversies and challenges to implement these targets in pioneering European cities, and offer insights into recent evolutions in global climate governance to support voluntary action by city governments.
Emilie was a member of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences as well as the Cluster of Excellence CLICCS (Climate, Climatic Change and Society) at Universität Hamburg.
Her future plans?
Emilie will be joining France’s High Council on Climate where she will contribute as a researcher to the development of assessment frameworks to evaluate France’s climate policies.