Policy Recommendations: Climate Change Policy Integration at the Subnational Level in Italy and Austria

Within the framework of the research project ‘Climate change integration in the multilevel governance of Italy and Austria: policy-making and implementation in selected subnational policies’ (Research Südtirol 2019), financed by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, this document presents a collection of policy recommendations, i.e. a non-exhaustive list of actions recommended with the purpose to facilitate the integration of climate change in sectoral policies at subnational level. The recommendations are intended as suggested avenues to guide sectoral climate policy integration especially for the subnational governments analyzed in the research project, i.e. the two Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano and the two Austrian Länder of Vorarlberg and Tyrol. However, since problems to be solved are clearly identified, recommendations could be used as a benchmark for action also for other subnational governments with similar problems and similar institutional frameworks. Indeed, none of the suggested policy recommendation must be intended as a magic recipe for achieving climate policy integration, but they should be further evaluated by the administrations concerned and adapted to specific conditions, such as the political context and the political will to address the problem, the concrete capacity of the administrations concerned, the political opportunity to realize the suggested course of action, as well as the balance with other desirable societal goals. Notwithstanding these caveats, however, these policy recommendations are intended to sustain and to accelerate climate action in the context of a climate emergency that needs immediate responses.

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