Municipalities as intermediaries for the design and local implementation of climate visions

Figures & data

Table 1. Some characteristics of the three municipalities in this study.

Characteristics	Linköping	Norrköping	Åtvidaberg
Number of inhabitants	158,520	140,927	11,631
Classification	Large city -municipalities with a population of at least 200,000 inhabitants and at least 200,000 inhabitants in the largest urban area	Large city-municipalities with a population of at least 200,000 inhabitants and at least 200,000 inhabitants in the largest urban area	Commuting municipalities near medium-sized towns-municipalities where more than 40% of the working population commute to work in a medium-sized town
Political management (as of 2014–2018)	Coalition of Swedish Social Democratic Party, Swedish Green Party and Liberals	Broad coalition of all parties (including Swedish Social Democratic Party, Centre Party, Liberals and Christian Democrats)	Coalition of Swedish Social Democratic Party and Moderate Party
Energy supplier	Municipally owned company	Privately owned company	Linköping municipal energy company
Year of the latest energy strategy	N/A	2017	2017
Municipal companies (which are 100% municipally owned)	10 companies, including1 energy company and 3 housing companies	12 companies including 1 water and sewage company and 2 housing companies	3 companies, including 1 water and sewage company

Sources: Statistics Sweden (2018), SALAR (2018)

Table 2. Overview of the documents selected for analysis.

Type of documentation	Linköping	Norrköping	Åtvidaberg
Energy strategy	N/A	Energy plan (2017) Action plan for old energy plan (2015)	Energy strategy (2017)
General environmental strategies	Environmental policy (2001), CO2 neutral goal (2010), management system, climate vision (joint with Norrköping, 2008), municipal goals (2015–2018)	Municipal vision 2035, municipal goals 2015–2018, climate vision (joint with Linköping, 2008)	Sustainability programme (2017)
Ownership policy and guidelines (municipal companies)	Housing company Utility company	Water and sewage company Housing company	N/A

Table 3. Overview of the informants for this study.

Type of actor	Linköping (number of informants)	Norrköping (number of informants)	Åtvidaberg (number of informants)
Strategists with overall responsibility for the municipality’s strategic energy management	Energy and climate strategist (1)	Energy controller (1)	Sustainability coordinator (1)
Energy/climate advisors	2	2	1
Representatives from municipal companies	Housing company (2) Energy company (1)	Housing companies (3) Water and sewage company (1) Event and real estate company (1)	N/A
Total	6	8	2

Table 4. Summary of the municipalities’ intermediation strategies, determining factors and potential implications.

Municipality	Strategies	Determining factors	Pros and cons
Linköping	Task delegation Local experiments Coalitions	Local circumstances (access to municipal energy companies, access to financial resources, management approach)	+Space for initiatives and creativity +Broad commitment −Resource inefficiency −Risk for organizational confusion −Risk of not being able to achieve goals
Norrköping	Coalitions Local experiments (with limited ambitions and a strong focus on goal achievement)	Local circumstances (no municipal energy company, management approach, guidance of national policies)	+Efficient +Good chance for goal achievement −Lack of commitment and initiatives −Lack of context-specific goals and actions
Åtvidaberg	Coalitions (participative process)	Local circumstances (no municipal energy company, limited access to financial resources, management approach) Guidance of global policies	+Legitimacy +Broad commitment −Lack of resources −Vulnerable approach relying on the commitment of a few individuals −Individual-dependent

Statistics Sweden. (2018). Population statistics. Stockholm: Author.

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Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR). (2018). Municipalities, county councils and regions. https://skl.se/tjanster/englishpages/municipalitiescountycouncilsandregions.1088.html Consulted on the 26-04-2019

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