Climate policy integration in the European Union, 1990 to 2020: a multi-dimensional, multi-levelled analysis

Prados Pascual, Alba (2025) Climate policy integration in the European Union, 1990 to 2020: a multi-dimensional, multi-levelled analysis. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Despite over 30 years of climate policymaking, the European Union (EU) and its Member States continue to face the challenge of simultaneously mitigating and adapting to climate change. A widely endorsed solution amongst scholars and policymakers alike is the greater integration of climate change into other relevant policy subsystems, guided by the principle of climate policy integration (CPI). However, despite the prominence of CPI in the literature and political discourse, comprehensive, theoretically informed empirical analyses remain scarce.

This thesis addresses this gap by examining the operationalisation of CPI in the EU and its Member States from 1990 to 2020 using climate policy databases as part of a multi-case study design. Through a novel combination of policy integration and EU integration theories – specifically historical institutionalism and neo-intergovernmentalism- this study offers new insights into how CPI have evolved over time in the EU and its Member States across four salient dimensions, namely policy frame, subsystem involvement, policy goals, and instruments.

One of the main findings is that the EU has played an important role in establishing an integrative narrative of climate change over the 30-year period, but especially since the 2010s. Thus, the framing of CPI processes in the EU has largely been determined by supranational actors, as suggested by historical institutionalist perspectives. However, the day to day operationalisation of CPI remains largely controlled by the Member States, in line with new intergovernmentalist thinking; indeed, the empirical results reveal substantial and enduring differences across Member States in how CPI has been operationalised through policies, targets and instruments. This thesis makes three original contributions to the existing literature: methodologically, by employing novel climate policy databases as a source of data for CPI assessments; empirically, by examining and comparing two levels of governance; and theoretically, by bringing together policy integration and European integration theories.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
Depositing User:	Kitty Laine
Date Deposited:	11 Jun 2025 10:38
Last Modified:	11 Jun 2025 10:38
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/99445
DOI:

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