Environmental Work and its Indicators, from International to Municipal level

Abstract: Environmental work at different societal levels has different prerequisites and responsibilities. The aim of the thesis is to describe and compare the environmental strategies, programs, and indicators on the international regional (European Union), national (Sweden), sub national regional (County of Stockholm) and municipal (Upplands Väsby) levels, and see if there is consistency between the societal levels. The organization behind the environmental strategies, program, and indicators is large. Communication, distribution of data and information, as well as feedback are important aspects of the environmental work. This has also been studied in the thesis. All type of work has its obstacles, for the environmental work the main obstacles are, lack of: resources, political will, dedicated civil servants; and also the organization itself. There is consistency between environmental aims, but not between the environmental indicators used on the societal levels. Creating a common indicator system would improve this. Economic aspects play an important part in the environmental work.