Industrial interests in comparative climate politics: where green businesses matter

I investigated how regime type conditions the influence of organized economic interests on climate policy adoption, focusing on green industries as prototypical policy beneficiaries. I argue that institutional opportunity structures shape whether pro-climate interests can translate economic strength into policy influence. Using cross-national panel data (74 countries, 2000–2018), I tested whether green industry strength measured by low-carbon technology exports, is (1) associated with more climate policy mitigation instruments, and (2) whether this association differs between democracies and autocracies. The results show that green industry strength is generally associated with climate policy adoption, but this relationship is visible only in democracies. These findings contribute to the existing literature by providing suggestive evidence that regime type conditions how pro-climate economic interests translate into actual policy adoption.