Global Eco-Social Policy: The Integration of the Ecological, the Economic and the Social in International Organisations’ Policy Proposals

Discussions of how to integrate ecological and social policies have mushroomed in recent years. Globally, policies fall short in balancing natural and social systems. Wealthy welfare states often overshoot planetary boundaries, while some low-income countries have trouble meeting basic needs but stay within ecological limits. Most eco-social policy research revolves around national challenges rather than their global dimensions, which is surprising given the transnational character of ecological crises. The paper outlines how to approach eco-social policy from a global perspective by focusing on international organisations (IOs), which are crucial actors in a just transition to a more sustainable future, since they provide policy recommendations to both groups of countries and could thus balance natural and social requirements. Some IOs increasingly acknowledge tensions between environmental policies and social policies, and some offer integrated policy perspectives that aim to render these tensions into synergies. This paper concentrates on key global social policy IOs, namely the ILO, the OECD, and the World Bank. To provide an evaluation of their eco-social policy practices, the paper assesses IO policy proposals in their degree of policy integration, using a conceptual framework that differentiates between eco-social problems, goals and instruments. It then examines levels of incumbency and transformation associated with their approaches. Incumbency refers to staying within established practices that broadly reproduce the prevailing global political economy, while transformation signifies the capacity to promote changes to incumbent policy notions that challenge this economic order, which is often blamed for the current economic, ecological, and social crises. By offering a nuanced exploration of eco-social policy integration within different IOs, the paper provides insights into the evolving landscape of global eco-social policy, which is expected to become a key concern in global social policy – both for the journal and for the eponymous field of research and practice.