Ecosocial policies, polycentric governance and the transformation of policy areas with entrenched business interests

Building environmentally sustainable societies will require fundamental reforms in all policy areas that matter for the organization of the economy. In such efforts, ecosocial policies will play a key role key for ensuring the political viability of this transformation. Most such ecosocial policies will emerge not as radical new policy ideas, but instead through the reform of well-established policy areas with a long history and well-established dynamics of interaction between policy actors. How is it possible for actors within these policy areas to agree on a new ecosocial policy mix despite collective action problems, profit pressure, and uncertainty about the future. Based on document analysis and interviews with key actors, the paper explores the circumstances under which polycentric governance may promote long-term sustainability reforms in policy areas characterized by entrenched interests. Using the case of the greening of Danish vocational education and training, the paper first analyses the challenges faced by a well-established collective skill formation system like the Danish, where employer organizations and unions have for decades cooperated through polycentric governance mechanisms. Second, it analyses the ways in which the existing structure has been harnessed to produce innovative approaches to a greening of education programmes. Finally, it discusses how insights about the efficacy of polycentric governance for transforming vocational education in Denmark can be scaled and employed in other national settings and policy areas.