Synergising Climate and Clean Air Governance in the EU : A Multilevel Analysis of Policy Integration

ABSTRACT Unlocking synergies while avoiding trade‐offs between climate and air pollution mitigation is key to policy effectiveness and cost‐efficiency. For maximum effect, these policies must be integrated not only horizontally within a governance level but also vertically across them. Yet, while integration is central to attaining environmental objectives, institutions implementing them often work in silos, limiting coordination across policy sectors and governance levels. Furthermore, interactions between horizontal and vertical processes of policy integration (PI) remain under‐researched. Using Löther & Yamineva's framework, I evaluate and trace developments in climate‐air pollution PI in the EU across three governance levels since 2016. Beside the EU‐level, case jurisdictions include two Member States, Italy and Finland, plus two cities, Milan and Helsinki. I analyse two rounds of climate and air pollution strategy documents for each to capture a progression over time, supplemented by key informant interviews. This lets me gauge where horizontal and/or vertical integration occurred, where it lacks, and what shapes these patterns. Findings show that, rather than a coherent cross‐level PI strategy, each jurisdiction follows its own approach to climate‐air pollution integration, varying widely in ambition but with shortcomings in all cases. Furthermore, PI has notably declined over time in most jurisdictions. Both horizontal and vertical integration thus remain insufficient. PI‐barriers include a general shift in priorities away from environmental goals but also specific flaws in European climate and pollution laws, whose revision offers opportunities to further integration. Lessons learned apply to other environmental policies, too, and demonstrate the importance of a multidimensional approach to PI research.