Climate policy and the eco-social divide: the discourse of climate and social integration in water governance

Growing social and political concerns about climate change risk creating a new eco-social divide, where climate and social policies are seen as competing priorities. This divide also raises questions about the democratic legitimacy of pursuing economic growth and well-being within the context of sustainability. Climate change discourse often highlights negative impacts on well-being, while the ongoing welfare crisis amplifies the perception that more immediate issues related to justice, equity and poverty may need prioritization, making participatory approaches to co-create solutions seem essential. We explore the potential of integrated eco-social policies by analyzing the climate and social integration discourse within water governance through a corpus of communications and policy briefings from European-funded climate projects under Green Deal calls. Our corpus-based critical discourse analysis reveals that the concept of policy integration is strongly embedded in discussions around governance and stakeholder engagement. However, while this signals a commitment to eco-social policy integration, we argue that a focus primarily on participatory governance may not be sufficient to bridge emerging divides across eco-social lines.