A Cautionary Tale for Polycentric Climate Governance: Sweden’s Roles in Orchestrating Decarbonization

Oscar Widerberg is an associate professor in environmental politics and policy and deputy department head of the Environmental Policy Analysis section at the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU). Oscar is also program director for the Environment and Resource Management (ERM) master’s program at the VU. His research focuses on complexity and hybridity in global governance for sustainability and has been published in more than 100 academic articles, books, policy reports, and opinion pieces in, among other publications, Nature Climate Change, Ambio, Environmental Politics, and Global Environmental Politics.

Karin Bäckstrand is a professor in environmental social science at the Department of Political Science at Stockholm University and the Institute for Future Studies. Her research revolves around global environmental politics, climate policy, and private–partnerships in the 2030 Agenda. She has published in journals such as Global Environmental Politics and the European Journal of International Relations. She is coeditor of Rethinking the Green State: Environmental Governance Towards Climate and Sustainability Transition (2015), Legitimacy in Global Governance: Sources, Processes, and Consequences (2018), and Governing the Climate–Energy Nexus: Institutional Complexity and Its Challenges to Effectiveness and Legitimacy (2020).

Eva Lövbrand is a professor of environmental change at the Department of Thematic Studies, Linköping University. Her research examines the ideas, knowledge systems, and expert practices that inform global environmental politics and governance. She is coeditor of the volumes Environmental Politics and Deliberative Democracy: Exploring the Promise of New Modes of Governance (2010), Research Handbook on Climate Governance (2015), Anthropocene Encounters: New Directions in Green Political Thinking (2019), and Anthropocene (In)Securities: Reflections on Collective Survival 50 Years After the Stockholm Conference (2021).

Jens Marquardt is a senior researcher at the Institute of Political Science, Technical University of Darmstadt. Trained in political science and science and technology studies, his research revolves around environmental governance, climate politics, and the contested nature of socioecological transformations, with a particular focus on (de-)politicization and conflicts. Recent articles include “Imaginary Lock-ins in Climate Change Politics” (coauthored, Environmental Politics), “Non- and Sub-state Climate Action After Paris” (coauthored, WIREs Climate Change), and “Institutionalizing Climate Change Mitigation in the Global South” (coauthored, Earth System Governance). He is coeditor of the volume Governing Climate Change in Southeast Asia: Critical Perspectives (2022).

Naghmeh Nasiritousi is a senior lecturer at the Department of Thematic Studies, Linköping University, and a research fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, as well as a codirector of the Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research, Linköping University. Her research focuses on global climate and energy governance, international institutions, and issues of legitimacy and effectiveness. She coedited Governing the Climate–Energy Nexus: Institutional Complexity and Its Challenges to Effectiveness and Legitimacy (2020) and has published in journals such as Environmental Politics, Climate Policy, Review of International Studies, and Environmental Policy and Governance.