Consuming Agenda-Setting : A qualitative study of the driving factors behind the emergence of consumption-based emissions on the agenda in Umeå municipality

Abstract: This study sets out to examine the factors driving consumption-based emission on the political agenda of Umeå municipality in northern Sweden. The paper attempts to contribute to the understanding of how climate change related issues can be given a more salient role on the political agenda of municipalities. Building on agenda-setting theories and previous studies on the subject of urban climate governance, a hypothesis was formulated to test existing theories and previous findings. Semi-structured interviews with elected politicians and municipal officials were used to gather empirics, to be analyzed and tested against the hypothesis. The main findings point towards the importance of engaged officials/politicians in bringing an issue to the municipal agenda and a supportive political context, created by policy tradition and history. Political trends and movements and external expertise were important factors in facilitating the implementation of the project encompassing consumption-based emissions on the municipal level, possibly fostering the emergence of it on the political agenda. No clear factor was found to be accountable for the transition of the issue from the municipal to the political agenda, being a product of multiple variables.