Jan Christoph Steckel

Jan Christoph Steckel @jansteckel.bsky.social · 23h

🚨Job Alert 🚨

Interested in working with us @pik-potsdam.bsky.social (Berlin based RD5, formerly MCC)? We are looking for a new #PhD student in my team, working on #policyevaluation, #politicaleconomy and #development.

3 years funded. Focus on research. No teaching obligations.

More information 👇

Jan Christoph Steckel @jansteckel.bsky.social · 6d

We're looking for 1-2 new research assistants in my group @pik-potsdam.bsky.social. Mostly interesting for Berlin-based students. Pls apply before November 23rd.

Jan Christoph Steckel @jansteckel.bsky.social · 6d

8/ In other words — this isn’t just analysis of language; it’s analysis of the run-up to transition decisions. Understanding discourse is understanding transition timing.

Read the paper #openaccess here:

doi.org/10.1016/j.er...

\end

Redirecting

doi.org

Jan Christoph Steckel @jansteckel.bsky.social · 6d

7/ Why this matters beyond South Africa: we see discourse as part of policy sequencing. Before policies shift, narratives shift. Discourses shape what becomes politically thinkable, when coalitions emerge, and how “windows” for phase-out open (or close).

Jan Christoph Steckel @jansteckel.bsky.social · 6d

6/ Media space is dominated by Eskom, political elites, and major coal firms. Civil society, labour, and international actors appear far less. Sentiment toward mining and “transition politics” is generally positive — reinforcing continuity over disruption.

Jan Christoph Steckel @jansteckel.bsky.social · 6d

5/ Renewables are framed largely as grid relief, not replacement for coal. Carbon-management technologies (CCS, hydrogen, offsets, “clean coal”) often appear as future-fix narratives that sustain incumbency. Explicit coal-exit discourse is rare — except briefly around the #JETP announcement.

Jan Christoph Steckel @jansteckel.bsky.social · 6d

4/ The core insight: coal remains discursively entrenched. Coverage centres on mining, politics, and the energy crisis — not coal phase-out. “Transition” language rises, but is mostly tied to crisis response and technology narratives, rather than structural change.

Shares of topic clusters over time. The shares represent the sum of individual topic shares within each topic cluster and are smoothed over a 3-month rolling average. Refer to the legend for the topic cluster labels.

Jan Christoph Steckel @jansteckel.bsky.social · 6d

3/ We combine dynamic topic modelling, named-entity recognition, and sentence-level sentiment analysis, supported by careful manual reading and validation. This lets us track not just what is being said over time, but who says it and in what tone - without losing interpretive depth.

Jan Christoph Steckel @jansteckel.bsky.social · 6d

2/ We analyse ~8,000 national news articles (2010–2024) to understand how South Africa’s #coal transition is narrated — and what that reveals about #power, #politics, and pathways for change.

Jan Christoph Steckel @jansteckel.bsky.social · 6d

🚨Excited to share our new paper "Dirty talk: Media discourse and the struggle over South Africa’s coal transition", published today in #ERSS @elseviersej.bsky.social with my great @pik-potsdam.bsky.social colleagues Charlotte S. Bez and Giacomo Raederscheidt.

A quick thread 🧵1/

Sarah Khan @sarahkhan.bsky.social · 16d

Call for two Stephan Klasen Fellowships at the University of Göttingen,
for postdoctoral researchers in development economics from low- and middle-income countries.

Applications close 16th November 2025.

www.uni-goettingen.de/en/632637.html

Jan Christoph Steckel @jansteckel.bsky.social · Oct 1

Some personal news 👇

PIK_climate @pik-potsdam.bsky.social · Oct 1

PIK researcher @jansteckel.bsky.social takes on a new role today: he has been appointed Professor of #PoliticalEconomy of #ClimatePolicy @tum.de and is setting up a corresponding working group at PIK. This move strengthens PIK’s social science profile.

More:
www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/late...

PIK_climate @pik-potsdam.bsky.social · Oct 1

PIK researcher @jansteckel.bsky.social takes on a new role today: he has been appointed Professor of #PoliticalEconomy of #ClimatePolicy @tum.de and is setting up a corresponding working group at PIK. This move strengthens PIK’s social science profile.

More:
www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/late...

EAERE @eaere.bsky.social · Sep 5

🌎 We are glad to announce the 𝗘𝗔𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 which provides financial assistance for a visiting period ranging from a minimum of 3 months to a maximum of one year at a university or research institute abroad

#VisitingProgramme #environmentaleconomics #careersupport #PhD #postdoc

CESifo @cesifo.org · Aug 13

🎓 Say hello to our newest network member, @jansteckel.bsky.social , from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)! ‬‬

Learn more about his work in climate policy and economics: www.pik-potsdam.de/members/stec...
More Details: www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/ne...

Georg Weizsäcker @georgweizsaecker.bsky.social · Jul 16

Are you into statistics and econ/business applications?

Come work with us in Berlin, on a tenure-track professorship. We have a great athmosphere at the department, and want to learn about your research.

Please pass it on to friends, too.

#Econsky

www.academics.de/jobs/juniorp...

Juniorprofessur für "Angewandte Statistik und Data Science", JP/004/25 - Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin bietet Stelle als Juniorprofessur für "Angewandte Statistik und Data Science", JP/004/25 in Berlin - jetzt bewerben!

www.academics.de

Sander Tordoir @sandertordoir.bsky.social · Jul 14

“We Warned About the First China Shock. The Next One Will Be Worse.”

Essay in the NYT by MITs David Autor and Harvard’s Gordon Hanson, who did a lot of the groundbreaking research on the first China shock.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/o...

Opinion | We Warned About the First China Shock. The Next One Will Be Worse.

www.nytimes.com

Jan Christoph Steckel @jansteckel.bsky.social · Jun 30

Happy to be in Munich @cesifo.org this week. Pls reach out if you are around and want to chat.

CESifo @cesifo.org · Jun 30

We have an exciting guest this week❗
@jansteckel.bsky.social will be visiting the ifo Institute from June 29th to July 4th!🏠

To learn more about Jan’s research in climate 🌦️ and development 📈 economics, check out this link:
www.pik-potsdam.de/members/stec...

🔎 More info: www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/gu...

CESifo @cesifo.org · Jun 30

We have an exciting guest this week❗
@jansteckel.bsky.social will be visiting the ifo Institute from June 29th to July 4th!🏠

To learn more about Jan’s research in climate 🌦️ and development 📈 economics, check out this link:
www.pik-potsdam.de/members/stec...

🔎 More info: www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/gu...

Jan Christoph Steckel @jansteckel.bsky.social · Jun 18

Very warm congratulations to @linusmattauch.bsky.social! Very well deserved.

EAERE @eaere.bsky.social · Jun 18

🏆𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘆🏆

We are delighted to announce the winner of the 2025 European Award for Researchers in Environmental Economics under the Age of Forty: Linus Mattauch (TU Berlin & Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research)

EAERE @eaere.bsky.social · Jun 18

🏆𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘆🏆

We are delighted to announce the winner of the 2025 European Award for Researchers in Environmental Economics under the Age of Forty: Linus Mattauch (TU Berlin & Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research)

Jan Christoph Steckel @jansteckel.bsky.social · Jun 17

Very happy that so many @pik-potsdam.bsky.social colleagues made it to Bergen #eaere2025 this year @eaere.bsky.social.

Jan Christoph Steckel @jansteckel.bsky.social · Jun 16

#EAERE2025 is here! This morning, we already had an excellent pre-EAERE workshop on Climate Policy in Low-and Middle Income countries. Now, I am looking forward to an interesting conference and meeting many old friends and making new ones @eaere.bsky.social

https://eaere-conferences.org/index.php?p=515

Johannes Hillje @jhillje.bsky.social · Apr 24

Rechtsextremistische Straftaten haben an Schulen (teils sprunghaft) zugenommen. Quelle: @zeit.de

Clean Energy Wire | CLEW @cleanenergywire.bsky.social · Apr 24

Most people in Germany clueless how new EU carbon price will affect heating costs – survey

Large majority could not adequately predict cost increases, nearly a quarter had not heard of upcoming reform

Most people in Germany clueless how new EU carbon price will affect heating costs – survey

Many people in Germany have no idea that the planned expansion of EU carbon pricing could significantly push up their fossil fuel heating costs, in some scenarios by well over 1,000 euros per year, a survey by heat pump company Aira has found. While a large majority could not adequately predict cost increases, nearly a quarter of respondents had not even heard of the upcoming reform, the company said.

www.cleanenergywire.org

Jan Christoph Steckel @jansteckel.bsky.social · Apr 5

Great overview of what's going on with global coal by @cshearer19.bsky.social et al. as usual.

Tl:dr: Global net coal capacity still increases by 19 GW but falls outside China.

Georg Weizsäcker @georgweizsaecker.bsky.social · Apr 1

US academia is unparalleled in the welfare it creates.

But US academia is now under attack and other countries, like Germany, have to keep the flame alive for a while. It will make them more innovative.

See our guest article in @spiegel.de, translated. 👇

www.hertie-school.org/en/news/allc...

Giving US researchers a new home

Amid growing pressure from the US government, Hertie School President Cornelia Woll co-authors op-ed arguing that German institutions have the opportunity to support world-class researchers.

www.hertie-school.org

Adrien Fabre @adrien-fabre.bsky.social · Apr 1

🤩🤩 Paper finally out in the AER!

With my co-authors (incl. @bluebery-planterose.com & @s-stantcheva.bsky.social) we surveyed climate attitudes in 20 countries covering 72% of global emissions.

In brief, people want ambitious, global, and fair climate policies. A 🧵⬇️

www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

Thomas Hansen @thomashansen.bsky.social · Mar 29

The former ambassador to Denmark for the United States, Rufus Gifford, posted this video on his Facebook account:

Ht: @hpsc24.bsky.social

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