Policy integration through the Sustainable Development Goals? The case of the German Federal Government

In 2015, the United Nations adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets as part of its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The launch of this comprehensive and inclusive set of global goals was expected to lead, among other things, to more integrative policymaking, which is widely seen as important for sustainability governance. In this article, we draw on a detailed empirical case study of the German government to analyze whether the launch of the SDGs has indeed strengthened policy integration and which mechanisms may account for this. With statistical methods and extensive network analysis, our analysis captures changes in horizontal, vertical, and sectoral policy integration between 2012 and 2019. In addition, we use semi-structured interviews to explore institutional, leadership, and ideational integration mechanisms. The study shows that sectoral and horizontal policy integration has increased after 2015, but that the SDGs still have not changed the conditions for system-wide policy integration. Our findings shed new light on the possibilities and limitations of integrative sustainability governance through global goals.