Abstract
What are the sub-national implications, in policy and practice, of environmental policy integration (EPI) in EU and Swedish bioenergy policy? Focusing on the exceptional bioenergy expansion within the Biofuel Region in north Sweden, this paper discusses cross-level implications of supranational and national policy decisions on bioenergy; whether environmental perspectives are observable also in sub-national bioenergy discussions; and explores the drivers of sub-national bioenergy development in a multi-level governance setting. The study finds that higher-level EPI plays an important role for sub-national bioenergy development. The degree of sub-national EPI in bioenergy and the type of renewables invested in is to a large extent set by top-down influence from the EU and national level through agenda setting, policy goals and economic mechanisms. Local policy entrepreneurs play an important role for finding ‘win-win’-solutions that can help initiating local energy projects and ensure sub-national EPI, but environmental-economic – rather than merely economic – motives for getting involved are important to ensure long-term local commitment to renewable energy projects.
Highlights
This paper focuses on cross-level implications of supranational and national bioenergy policy for sub-national bioenergy development
Through studying the effect of EU and Swedish bioenergy policy on the developments in the Biofuel Region area in Sweden, which is the site for a unique expansion in the biofuel industry over the last decade, this paper provides insight into what works, when and how for stimulating sub-national renewable energy development
What drives sub-national bioenergy development, and what are the sub-national implications, in policy and practice, of higher-level environmental policy integration (EPI) in the area of bioenergy policy? In the previous section, we saw that EPI on the EU, Swedish and the subnational levels can be classified as ‘weak’ as the environmental aspects are integrated but tightly tied to other goals such as energy security and economic growth
Summary
This paper focuses on cross-level implications of supranational and national bioenergy policy for sub-national bioenergy development. Through studying the effect of EU and Swedish bioenergy policy on the developments in the Biofuel Region area in Sweden, which is the site for a unique expansion in the biofuel industry over the last decade, this paper provides insight into what works, when and how for stimulating sub-national renewable energy development. One overarching policy objective that has influenced EU and Swedish bioenergy policy for the last decades is environmental policy integration (EPI), which endeavours to incorporate environmental policy objectives into all sector policies with a view to promote sustainable development (WCED 1987). The sub-national level can be said to hold the key to the realisation of sustainable development ambitions, such as renewable energy expansion. As Urwin and Jordan (2008, p. 182, based on Radaelli, 2003) argue: “the way in which the intentions of policy are expressed at the higher level, can be very different to the way in which it is conducted (and interacts with cognate policies) at lower levels”
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