Vägen till ett ekologiskt hållbart samhälle : Vad kan förklara variationen mellan Sveriges kommuner i miljöpolitisk aktivitet?

For decades Sweden has been at the forefront of issues regarding environmental politics, and Swedish municipalities have a key role in sustainable development, but differ greatly in their commitment for environmental politics. But what are the underlying reasons for this disparity? Previous research has identified societal factors that may hinder or push municipalities to drive more ambitious environmental politics. However, there is a need for more empirical evidence on what factors that may better explain the differences between municipalities’ environmental commitment. This thesis aims to identify possible causes for the difference between Swedish municipalities in the extent to which they implement local environmental politics. Four variables are selected, based on theories about what may explain municipal commitment to environmental politics: Presence of the Green party within the municipal executive board; quantity of municipal officers who work with environmental issues; whether the municipality is dependent on industry that is harmful to the environment; and local support for The Swedish environmental protection association (Naturskyddsföreningen) among the municipal population. Four hypotheses are tested and three of them find support in the empirical data. Only the hypothesis about the effect from the environmental organization is found to lack support. The results indicate that the number of municipal officers who work with environmental issues is the variable that best explains the variation between municipalities in environmental commitment. At the same time, the effect of the Green party on municipal commitment for environmental politics is less than anticipated. The results suggest that other variables need to be examined to better understand what may cause the difference between Swedish municipalities in commitment for environmental politics.