Institutionalization or wither away? Twenty-five years of environmental policy integration under shifting governance models in Sweden

What is it about?

There are many snapshot studies of environmental policy integration which look at a particular policy process or event. In this paper, we look at the evolution of EPI in two critical sectors (energy and agriculture) over a period of three decades. Has the prinicple been firmly institutionalised or does it fluctuate according to changing political opinion? And how is EPI related to different governance models operating in different policy sectors? In this paper we look at evidence from Sweden, which has been considered a pioneer with EPI.

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Why is it important?

We hear constant calls for the need for more environmental policy integration, but there is surprisingly little systematic evidence of what works and not and what has actually been achieved over the three decades since the Brundtland report. This paper aims to address that gap, by tracking EPI in two policy sectors over 30 years in Sweden.