Large Portfolio

Lisa Eriksson, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) has overall responsibility that Swe­dens´s environmental objectives are achieved. The SEPA is facing big methodological chal­lenges concerning how to evaluate these goals in a policy context. The goal system consists of goals of different kind. There is one generational goal, defining the direction of the changes in society that need to occur within one generation if the environmental quality objectives are to be met. There is also the Envi­ronmental quality objectives, defining the state of the Swedish environment which environmental action is to result in. Decisions on... Read More ››

Paula Kivimaa, Finnish Environment Institute Evaluations of climate policy are challenging both prior and after implementation of new policies. They are compli­cated by uncertain cause-effect chains, multiple other causes and policies influencing in desired and opposite direc­tions, slowly changing practices, and long time periods before outcomes can be measured. Compared to some other environmental policy evaluations, climate policy evalua­tions are more challenging as their design and implemen­tation is often a result of several administra­tive sectors. Climate policy typically requires coherence between, for example, energy, transport, forest and agricultural policies. Previous evaluations can point out possible methods to carry out... Read More ››

Wouter Van Reeth, Flemish Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) Since the publication of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) policymakers and other stake­holders are increasingly embracing the idea that ecosystems are capital assets that can yield a valu­able flow of services, if they are properly managed. Ecosystem restoration with the purpose of safe­guarding or optimising ecosystem services has become an explicit policy objective at an international, European, national and regional level. As a result, the per­form­ance of ecosystems to deliver services and support human well-being also becomes an explicit part of policy planning, design of policy instru­ments, implementation,... Read More ››