The project acronym CC-VISAGES is conducted in two phases. Phase I was pursued from 2013 to 2016. As of October 2025, its second phase (Phase II) was launched. CC-VISAGES investigates the “faces” (visages) of climate change within the framework of environmental justice research (EJR) through a comparative study and policy analysis of Brazil, Canada, and Germany. The theoretical framework is a dialectic of nature-society based on conceptions of Adorno (1973, 2008), Grundmann (1997), and Göhler (1980) that will be modelled via Grounded Theory (1973) into a ‘substantive theory’ of climate change–society relations.

It hopes to build a strong network of involved researchers from universities in Germany, Brazil, Canada, and Israel. It also wants to encourage other researchers to associate themselves, participate, or even join the project. The design of which the abstract is published below is open to researchers on every stage of education—BA, MA, PhD, or further. Its overall research approach is based on the critical guidelines for Environmental Justice Research as outlined by Köcker and Kaufmann (2014). More detailed information can be found on the CC-VISAGES project website To establish contact, just send an email to the project's head.

Research Question

The central research question assumes that social factors shape the perception of climate change far more strongly than is recognized in contemporary policy-making, and that this insufficient consideration contributes to policy failures across international, national, and local levels. Accordingly, the project asks what must be done from a policy perspective to close this gap. The key hypothesis argues that people’s perceptions of climate change are influenced more by social position than by nationality. It is therefore expected that socially deprived groups will perceive climate change in similar ways regardless of whether they live in Canada, Brazil, or Germany.

Geographic Information System (GIS)

Using Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics level 3 (NUTS-3), the project developed and applied a Human Stress Index (HSI) and combined it with the established Temperature Humidity Index (THI) to identify three comparable areas of vulnerability (CAoV)—one in each country—during Phase I of CC-VISAGES (2013–2015). Building on these results, the three selected CAoV will be analyzed in greater depth to examine climate-change perceptions, discursive variations, and prospects for policy consensus. Locally specific vulnerability data will subsequently be integrated into the macro-geographical framework provided by the Climatological Environmental Justice Index (CEJI). This will help to develop a substantive theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1973) of climate change perceptions and consequently ‘perceived justice’. To support this integration, a novel mixed-methods approach, the “Q Oracle,” was developed and successfully validated in a pilot study as part of a Master thesis.

The Project's Assumptions

The project proceeds from the recognition that climate change continues to represent one of the most urgent challenges in the world and that policy responses have thus far remained inadequate. This shortcoming highlights conceptual weaknesses within the dominant Sustainable Development paradigm, which—since its institutionalization in 1972—has largely disregarded the social distribution of environmental burdens and critical environmental justice research. Consequently, divergent perceptions of climate change among governments, institutions, and civil-society actors have hindered the formation of a coherent policy consensus.

Approach

In response, CC-VISAGES introduces the global CEJI as both an analytical and normative framework. By mapping correlations, similarities, and variances among socio-environmental variables in the three case countries, the project aims to reveal underlying social patterns of vulnerability and perception. The findings are expected to inform the development of more equitable and effective environmental policies, both internationally and locally, and to advance a sociologically grounded political science of environmental change as a key perspective within interdisciplinary climate research. The project’s multi-level design—combining quantitative cross-national analysis with qualitative local case studies—will culminate in the author’s Habilitation thesis.