Does Reality Match Ambition? Multilevel governance of building energy efficiency in Brunnshög, Sweden

Abstract: Improving energy efficiency in buildings is an important part of the EU’s ambitions to address climate change and other environmental, social and economic challenges. This is a role that is traditionally taken on by varying levels of governments, each level addressing elements that fall within their areas of jurisdiction. In today’s increasingly decentralised and yet simultaneously complex, integrated political environment, these government actors have seen changes to their roles as well as the introduction of other, non-government stakeholders and influences. The concept of multilevel governance has emerged to explain and understand the interaction of these two different tiers (hierarchical / Type I) and spheres (polycentric / Type II) of governance, and the tensions that emerge as they work to address energy efficiency policy. This line of questioning is valuable as it is crucial to understand where a mismatch of institutional, legislative, and coordinative responsibility may be hampering or supporting the ability to achieve ambitions for building energy efficiency. This thesis explores multilevel governance of building energy efficiency in a new, master-planned urban district in Lund, Sweden called Brunnshög. A case study analysis is performed, drawing on academic literature and empirical material from the municipal, national and international levels, such as strategy and policy documents, as well as interviews with key stakeholders in the local network during June and July 2019. The key question of this thesis is if “ambition for building energy efficiency matches reality”; the study’s findings are that the existing, planned or completed buildings in Brunnshög do meet or even exceed energy efficiency ambitions, although these ambitions cannot be considered especially stringent. Application of a Type I multilevel governance lens reveals that though there is a good deal of supportive frameworks and instruments supporting energy efficiency at the local, national and EU levels, there are several key ways by which intervention from higher levels of government actually constrains local efforts and ambitions. Studying the Brunnshög case from a Type II perspective meanwhile reveals the influence of local government’s efforts to take more of a coordinative, partnership and leading-by-example role in Brunnshög’s development (as opposed to purely regulatory) as well as Lund’s and Brunnshög’s local brands as a knowledge-, innovation- and sustainability-intensive area.