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ABSTRACT
Eurpean Union (EU) environmental policy has increasingly advanced multi-level governance (MLG) to improve policy implementation. MLG approaches mandate (sub-) national planning and introduce functional governance layers to match the biophysical scale of environmental problems. Whereas the literature on policy implementation has focused on the challenges posed by multi-level systems, the described EU approach relies on MLG as a strategy to better policy implementation. This contribution studies the implementation of EU air quality directives, drawing on all 137 German air quality and action plans, to explore how requirements of multi-level implementation are delivered on the ground. Overall, we find the model of implementing air quality policy through MLG of limited success. In particular, sub-national policy-makers use their new planning competencies but struggle to implement functional governance layers. Mirroring experiences from neighbouring EU policy fields, our findings raise the broader issue of ‘failed’ implementation versus a still untapped potential for adaptation and governance learning.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers whose comments on an earlier version helped improve this manuscript.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Judith A.M. Gollata is scholar at the faculty of sustainability at Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany.
Jens Newig is professor of governance and sustainability at Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany.
Notes
1 The study relates to consequences of particulate matter (2007–2013).
2 The series comprises of Framework Directive 96/62/EC, 1-3 daughter Directives 1999/30/EC, 2000/69/EC, 2002/3/EC, Decision on Exchange of Information 97/101/EC and new Directive 2008/50/EC.
3 We focus our research on the two most problematic of the 13 pollutants regulated across Europe.
4 ‘Zone’ refers to part of the territory of a member state, as delimited by that member state for the purposes of air quality assessment and management (Preamble 16, Directive 2008/50/EC), while ‘agglomeration’ refers to a zone that is a conurbation with a population in excess of 250 000 inhabitants or, where the population is 250 000 inhabitants or less, with a given population density per km2 to be established by the member states (Preamble 17, Directive 2008/50/EC).
5 http://gis.uba.de/website/umweltzonen/lrp.php (accessed May 2016).