Addressing sustainability or following political climate Rhetoric? Anatomy of government Agency’s performance management

Abstract

This paper examines how environmental sustainability is addressed, acted on, measured and communicated by the performance management system of a government agency. The Finnish Transport Safety Agency (Trafi) is the researched object, the activities and services of which cover a wide range of environmental sustainability goals set at different levels. The goals originate from international agreements, national strategies, performance agreements between the agency and the governing ministry, as well as from in-agency strategies and managerial planning. The results of the case research suggest that, instead of balanced and holistic addressing the different environmental sustainability dimensions, the agency’s portfolio of activities focused on climate change. More extensive sustainability goals did not trickle down to action or performance measurement metrics, but topical political discussions and pressures had narrowed the scope down. The analysis concludes with suggestions on how the existing performance management systems could be improved in the future.

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