Klimatdepartements påverkan på budgetanslag i OECD-länder - En kvantitativ studie av sambandet mellan närvaron av klimatdepartement och offentlig finansiering av klimatrelaterat arbete i OECD länder

Abstract

As countries worldwide have collectively agreed to binding commitments to curb greenhouse gas emissions, climate ministries have emerged as a growing institutional response. Today, climate ministries remain relatively few, and their impact on climate change mitigation is still under-researched. This study aims to investigate whether budget allocations increase in connection with the establishment of a climate ministry through a quantitative analysis of 35 OECD countries annual environmental expenditures, measured using the EPEA metric. The lack of an international measure specifically tracking annual spending on climate-related projects highlights the need to explore the potential of using EPEA as a proxy for climaterelated expenditures. The study finds that the establishment of climate ministries has a lagged effect on EPEA expenditures, with an increase observed two years after their establishment. This demonstrates the positive effects of institutional specialization in climate policy on environmental protection. However, the study also highlights the complexity of attributing budget increases solely to climate ministries, as country-specific internal factors clearly have a greater impact on expenditures. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how governance structures influence climate-related expenditures and provide a foundation for future research exploring the mechanisms behind these institutional effects.