The United Nations member states adopted and signed the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, establishing a framework for global discussion on sustainable development. The inclusion of 'Economic Growth' in these goals begs the question of what constitutes sustainable economic growth in the eyes of the UN. This insight, in conjunction with the ongoing debate about the growth paradigm, growthism, and the limits to growth, is, to put it mildly, fascinating and worth examining. Numerous studies conducted on this issue reveal that conventional economic growth is unsustainable and that alternative strategies must be used to bring about a paradigm shift. The purpose of this research is to determine whether traits of a competing discourse known as 'Degrowth' may be detected in the United Nations' discourse of sustainable economic growth. Whilst sustainable development has been a prominent topic for decades, Degrowth can be perceived as a more recent, less mainstream, and even radical discourse. The discourse emphasizes the limits to growth and advocates for democratically-led shrinking in production and consumption with the goal of achieving equality, justice and ecological sustainability. In order to accomplish the research project’s objective, the discourse and key characteristics of Degrowth are explored.  The study was conducted as a qualitative case study (design) using document analysis as the method. The analysis was guided by the theoretical lens combining Dryzek’s discourse analysis approach and Cosme et al.’s framework. By examining solely documents produced by the UN itself, this analysis concluded that while there are some parallels between the UN’s discourse of sustainable economic growth and Degrowth, there is a distinct difference between the two. The SDGs represent the traditional understanding of sustainable development, a discourse in which it is believed that economic growth can and will be decoupled from ecological degradation and that growth, in fact, is the key to poverty eradication, whereas Degrowth represents a school of thought in which the capitalistic system is viewed as the culprit to a majority of issues at hand and that decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation has been declared as debunked.

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Today, one of the most compelling issues facing students of environmental politics is global environmental governance’s democratic legitimacy. Critics of multilateral and transnational sustainable development negotiations and implementations perceive these as democratically deficient, due to non-state actors deciding over nation-state politics. Multilateralism is then seen as a governance structure which sacrifices state sovereignty, which is the pillar of modern democratic theory together with the concept of national demos. Yet, other theorists consider global environmental governance and multilateralism to foster democratization beyond the concept of the nation-state – something which by them is understood as necessary in a world with ever-increasing supranational environmental and developmental issues. Since 1992, the United Nations has implemented stakeholder models, meaning multi-stakeholder partnership and civil society involvement in sustainable development negotiations, as a way of raising democratic legitimacy and accountability. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals is the culmination of these efforts and the globally guiding document on the subject. The Agenda is a result of the broadest deliberation strategy ever employed by the UN. Via typological content analysis and viewing the Agenda through our theoretical framework, we understand that the UN applying stakeholder models does not necessarily mean evoking stakeholder democracy. Furthermore, democracy is largely construed as a tool for sustainable development and less as an end per se, even if the two are sometimes communicated as equal objectives. All in all, whether one interprets sustainable development negotiations as democratically legitimate or deficient depends on one’s view of democracy beyond the nation- state, as either a possible and necessary notion or a directly undemocratic one. / Idag är global miljöstyrnings demokratiska legitimitet ett av de mest åtråvärda forskningsproblemen inom miljöpolitiska studier. Kritiker av multilaterala och transnationella förhandlingar rörande hållbar utveckling och implementering uppfattar dessa som demokratiskt bristfälliga, då icke-statliga aktörer bestämmer över nationalstaters politik. Multilateralism ses då som en styrelseskicksstruktur som offrar nationalstaters suveränitet, vilket tillsammans med konceptet nationellt demos är kärnan i modern demokratisk teori. Dock anser andra teoretiker att global miljöstyrning och multilateralism kan befrämja demokratisering bortom nationalstater - något som av dessa anses som nödvändigt i en värld med ständig ökning av överstatliga miljö- och utvecklingsproblem. Sedan 1992 har Förenta Nationerna verkställt intressentmodeller, alltså multi- intressentpartnerskap och civilsamhällsinvolvering i hållbar utvecklings-förhandlingar, som ett sätt att höja demokratisk legitimitet och ansvarsskyldighet. Agenda 2030 och dess 17 globala mål för hållbar utveckling är kulmineringen av dessa satsningar, och det globalt ledande dokumentet gällande ämnet. Agendan och dess grundarbete är resultatet av den till dagsdatum största och mest omfattande överläggningsstrategi som FN någonsin använt sig av. Via typologisk innehållsanalys, och granskning av Agendan genom vårt teoretiska ramverk, så tolkar vi att FN:s genomförande av intressentmodeller inte nödvändigtvis innebär en frammaning av ett uteslutande intressentdemokratiskt ideal. I tillägg så kommuniceras demokrati mestadels som ett verktyg för hållbar utveckling, även om dessa två koncept delvis beskrivs som likvärdi ga mål. Huruvida förhandlingar kring hållbar utveckling uppfattas som demokratiskt legitima eller bristfälliga beror på tolkarens syn på demokrati utanför nationalstaten, som antingen en möjlig och nödvändig uppfattning, eller som en direkt odemokratisk sådan.

Small Island Developing States are known to be extra sensitive to environmental changes due to their geographical location and characteristics, and many are known as luxurious tourist destinations. This study explores how Mauritius and the Seychelles are affected by and deal with climate change and the negative impacts of tourism. The study connects to globalisation and sustainable tourism frameworks while analysing vulnerability and resilience in both countries, as well as how the countries work towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The method used is a mixed qualitative method with interviews and a text analysis of websites and official documents. The result indicates that both Mauritius and the Seychelles are highly vulnerable to climate change, especially in their coastal zones, which is further increased by tourism practices and development of tourism facilities. The study also highlights that both countries lack resilience to environmental changes. Both Mauritius and the Seychelles strive to work towards the 2030 Agenda, through policymaking on state level and through non-governmental organisations aligning their projects to the Sustainable Development Goals. The result also shows that there is a need to create a more sustainable tourism sector in each country to protect both the environment and the countries’ economies. This study aims to be a contribution to the research field of Small Island Developing States and to increase the understanding of Mauritius and the Seychelles’ particular characteristics and vulnerabilities.

The 2015 global adoption of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development places the achievement of health equity as a global priority for health and development. Due to the normative nature of the concept of health equity and the multi-level, multi-sectoral approaches required to advance it, interdisciplinary investigations are warranted to demonstrate how health equity as a policy objective is understood and operationalized. This dissertation is a case study of health equity in maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) in Ethiopia, using qualitative methods to explore how health equity is conceptualized and pursued by stakeholders across levels of the health system. Ethiopia, a low-income country in East Africa, reported improvements in MNCH during the Millennium Development Goal period (1990-2015), largely attributed to the expansion of health services into rural areas; however, achievements were not realized across all geographies and population groups. Health equity is a stated policy objective for the country. Through a series of four articles, this dissertation addresses: community members’ perceptions and experiences related to health inequity and MNCH; barriers and enablers encountered by community-level health workers in implementing an equity-oriented MNCH intervention; subnational health managers’ understandings of health equity, and their roles in promoting it; and the characterization of health equity as a policy problem in national-level health discourses. This work deconstructs health equity into three components (health, distribution of health and characterization of the distribution of health) and compares how stakeholders across levels of the health system attribute meaning to each component and imply responsibility and accountability for health equity. The findings detail how diverse experiences related to health equity in MNCH across community, subnational and national contexts are driven by high-level technocratic framings of health equity, which tend to emphasize the delivery of a narrow package of health services to under-served geographical areas. Providing support and recognition for the role of subnational stakeholders in mediating the adaption of national health equity policies to local contexts, and making prominent the social justice underpinnings of health equity in the implementation of national policies are opportunities to strengthen the advancement of health equity in Ethiopia.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore a local organization’s adoption of global sustainability policy, in terms of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Agenda is a response to global sustainability challenges which require action by international cooperation and actors on all levels. For such a policy to fulfill its purpose, means of implementation must be ensured. This study aims to answer both why and how a small organization located in Malmö, Sweden, has adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, and what it implies for its operations. More specifically, the focus is on the perceptions of people involved in the selected case organization. These perceptions have been captured by interviews. In addition to the interviews, the case data also consists of a document that directs parts of the organization’s operations. Furthermore, to connect the global and local levels, the case data is supplemented with the 2030 Agenda. By conducting a thematic analysis, our main findings indicate that the SDGs are adoptable to a local organization, but that their main function seems to be to frame and legitimize already existing activities in a context of sustainable development.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka och analysera skillnader mellan olika branscher i Sverige vid tillämpning av GRI standards och målen för Agenda 2030 inom hållbarhetsredovisning.Teoretiskt referensram: Den teoretiska referensramen i denna studie utgår ifrån GRI, Agenda 2030, ÅRL, legitimitetsteorin, intressentteorin, triple bottom line, signalteori samt tidigare forskning för att genom dessa stärka studiens resultat.  Metod: Studien utgår ifrån en kvantitativ metod som grundar sig i en frekvensundersökning på 48 olika företag inom fyra branscher. Datainsamlingen sker genom att undersöka urvalets hållbarhetsrapporter och genomföra en statistisk analys på insamlade datan. Analysarbetet genomfördes med hjälp av Microsoft Excel samt SPSS där ett anova test samt ett post hoc tukey test genomfördes för att få fram relevant information för att kunna besvara studiens frågeställningar och syfte.  Empiri: I studiens empiri presenteras relevant data för att kunna genomföra analysarbete av insamlade datan. I den empiriska statistiken kan det utläsas deskriptiv statistik, anova tester och post hoc tukey tester med tillhörande förklaringar av siffrorna som sedan fördjupas ytterligare i analysavsnittet.  Slutsats: Studiens slutsatser påvisar att det inte finns några signifikanta skillnader i hållbarhetsrapportering baserat på branschtillhörighet. I slutsatsen diskuteras hur de olika teorierna och tidigare forskning kan kopplas till resultatet samt ytterligare vad som skulle kunna genomförts annorlunda och hur man skulle kunna genomföra en framtida forskning. / Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyze differences between different industry sectors in Sweden when they apply GRI standards and 2030 Agenda sustainable development in their sustainability reports.Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework in this study is based on GRI, 2030 Agenda sustainable development, the annual accounts act, legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory, triple bottom line, signaling theory and previous research to strengthen conclusions and results of the study.  Methodology: The study is based on a quantitative method based on a frequency survey of 48 different companies in four industries. The data collection takes place by examining the sample's sustainability reports and carrying out a statistical analysis on the collected data. The analysis work was carried out using Microsoft Excel and SPSS where an anova test and a post hoc Tukey test were carried out to obtain relevant information to be able to answer the study's questions and purpose.  Result: In the study's empirical data, relevant data are presented to be able to carry out analysis of the collected data. In the empirical statistics, descriptive statistics, anova tests and post hoc Tukey tests can be read with associated explanations of the numbers, which are then deepened further in the analysis section.  Conclusion: The study's conclusions demonstrate that there are no significant differences in sustainability reporting based on industry affiliation. In the conclusion, it is discussed how the various theories and previous research can be connected to the result, as well as what could be done differently and how future research could be carried out.

Uppsatsen har två tydliga utgångspunkter. Den ena lyfter fram Agenda 2030 som en gemensam målbild för det hållbarhetsarbete som behöver ske för att uppnå ett socialt, ekonomiskt och miljömässigt hållbart samhälle inom överskådlig framtid. Den andra är det självklara i att: när kulturmiljövårdssektorn argumenterar för att det byggda kulturarvet bör bevaras så innebär det även, per definition, en möjlighet till resurshushållning av ändliga materiella resurser. Uppsatsen belyser frågor kring hur konsulter inom den svenska kulturmiljövården ställer sig till att använda miljömässiga hållbarhetsargument i relation till uppdragsgivare och myndigheter. Frågan ställs huruvida det ingår i kulturmiljövårdens roll att argumentera för hushållandet av ändliga materiella resurser jämte bevarandet av kulturvärden? Intervjuer har genomförts med 18 representanter från kulturmiljövården, dess uppdragsgivare och beställare samt Stockholms Statsbyggnadskontor. Sammanfattningsvis visar undersökningen att respondenterna anser att kulturmiljövårdssektorn idag inte använder sig av miljömässiga argument för att lyfta fram hushållandet av ändliga materiella resurser. En majoritet av respondenterna ställer sig positiva till att sektorn skulle kunna göra det i framtiden. Attityder kring livscykelanalyser baserade på generisk data har undersökts som ett möjligt verktyg för att synliggöra och kvantifiera eventuella miljömässiga vinster i samband med bevarande av det byggda kulturarvet. Detta som ett exempel på ett konkret miljömässigt argument. 17 av 18 respondenter i undersökningen anser att det vore användbart, dock utifrån olika perspektiv. Vidare pekar intervjusvaren på att det råder delade meningar kring vilken roll kulturmiljövården ska ha inom hållbar samhällsbyggnad, och om miljömässiga argument bör innefattas i den rollen. Intervjusvaren sätts in i en bredare kontext via analysen som tar avstamp i tankemodellen Kulturvård 3.0. Här definieras tre faser inom vilka kulturmiljövården verkar. Dessa kan sammanfattas som: fas 1.0 där fokus ligger på att bevara och skydda byggnader, 2.0 där fokus ligger på att vårda och restaurera byggnader, 3.0 där fokus ligger på att använda byggnader på ett sätt som kan bidra till hållbar utveckling. Enligt analysen ligger uppsatsens frågeställningar fortfarande inom pågående förhandling kring vad som bör ingå i kulturmiljövårdens framtida roll. Förhandlingen kan i sin tur ses som en del av fas 3 i tankemodellen, där teman som hållbar utvekling, anpassad återanvändning, kulturmiljövården som resurs samt samarbete över sektorsgränser, står som riktmärken.

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