Steering towards sustainable production of biofuels, the EU relies on hybrid governance through standards. It provides a meta-standard under which it accepts certification systems as “quasi-implementing agencies”, including in non-EU countries of production. The question arises whether this novel design integrating private transnational institutions contributes to complementary and mutually enforcing policy outcomes through cross-scale interactions of institutions at work.
We explore the potential of polycentricity and institutional analysis to study our case of fragmented governance. Ideal polycentric systems provide for effectiveness and legitimacy when multiple decision centers at differing scales provide autonomy for citizens and officials to innovate and intervene so as to correct maldistributions of authority and outcomes.
The approach offers a useful functional interrogation of governance systems design, particularly of the role to play for certification systems. Our results point to the need for empirical studies to better understand agency of involved institutions on cross-scale interactions and effects.
