The Emergence of Municipal-Led Green Financialization of Urban Development in Sweden: An Inquiry of a New Form of Urban Entrepreneurialism

This project analyses the recent switch in the financing of ´green´ urban development from conventional loan mechanisms to municipal debt financing in Sweden, how this trend relates to a shift from a local entrepreneurial welfare state to a green entrepreneurial one, how it is embedded within neoliberalism combined with sustainability policy.

Swedish municipalities have taken a frontrunner position in the issuing green municipal bonds for green urban development.

Recent research has shown that while it is unclear to what extent actual green financed projects contribute to a systemic sustainability shift, little concern has been paid to the risk of unequal redistributive outcomes.

Thus, the green financialization of urban development led by local states may represent a shift towards a green entrepreneurial local welfare provision signified by unequal distribution.

How the emergence of local state-led green financialization in Sweden potentially reorients the local welfare state has not been studied.

This project contributes to fill this knowledge gap by examining the use of green municipal bonds in three cities in Sweden from three theoretical strands: local state theory, urban entrepreneurialism, and financialization of urban development.

The research is carried out with qualitative methods including document analysis and interviews with public officers and project managers engaged in issuing green municipal bonds and the planning of the green urban development projects.