The Script of the Science–Policy Interface: Performative Routines in Climate Politics

Abstract The urgency of political action to safeguard against anthropogenic climate change is widely acknowledged. Much of this urgency stems from environmental scientists’ projections that have consistently shown dire future risks. A key part in providing such projections with political legitimacy is institutional “science–policy interface” (SPI) arrangements, which influence the ways in which environmental knowledge is produced and the ways in which political actors respond. In this contribution, building on the scholarship on the interaction between scientific knowledge and policy, we investigate the “script” of the SPI and its implicit rules. We identify seven well-established performative routines that most actors adhere to, often implicitly. Drawing on the literature on the coproduction of knowledge and governmentality, we investigate this script as a technology of governance. On the basis of secondary analysis of academic literature, prior interviews, document analysis, and autoethnographic observations, we show how these routines are upheld and challenged.