This article, which is co-authored by Senior Fellow Ingmar von Homeyer of the Ecologic Institute, introduces a special issue of the journal International Environmental Agreements on environmental policy integration (EPI) at the international level. Referring to the integration of environmental concerns into other, non-environmental policies, the concept of EPI has been applied at national and EU-level but has rarely been analysed in relation to the global arena.

The special issue addresses this gap by combining research on EPI with the literature on international regimes and related concepts. The article presents the main conceptual issues, which underpin the special issue, and distils and discusses some of the key findings. It argues that the differences as well as the similarities between the challenges of EPI at national and international level warrant further investigation.

Suggestions for how to enhance EPI in international regimes are still tentative, and analysis beyond international relations and regime theory is needed to capture potential institutional innovations for advancing EPI.