Climate policy integration beyond principled priority: a framework for analysis

Working Paper 86

Abstract

Countries aiming to achieve ambitious international and national climate objectives need to integrate climate considerations into all sectoral policies.

This contribution argues that since climate change is a diffuse and complex challenge, Climate Policy Integration cannot simply be modelled after the well-established principled priority of Environmental Policy Integration, but requires a separate analytical framework.

It distinguishes four levels of Climate Policy Integration: the EU strategic level, the EU policy-design level, the national strategy-setting and the national implementation level.

Options available on the EU policy-design level are traditional single-purpose climate policies and Climate Policy Integration. Type-1 Climate Policy Integration refers to policy areas with inherent co-benefits for climate action such as renewable energy policy, while the mainstreaming approach (type-2) requires incentives or conditionalities, such as regulatory support, as policies have no inherent co-benefits.

A case study on the German climate strategy illustrates Climate Policy Integration on the national strategy-setting level.

Katharina Rietig