Novel Multisector Networks and Entrepreneurship: The Role of Small Businesses in the Multilevel Governance of Climate Change

Sarah Burch, Heike Schroeder, Steve Rayner and Jennifer Wilson
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Sarah Burch: Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave West, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Heike Schroeder: School of International Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, England
Steve Rayner: Institute for Science, Innovation and Society, School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, 64 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6PN, England
Jennifer Wilson: Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University Centre for the Environment, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, England

Environment and Planning C, 2013, vol. 31, issue 5, 822-840

Abstract: While some jurisdictions are demonstrating leadership on climate change, it is clear that sufficient mitigation of climate change is not occurring. This highlights the importance of innovative approaches that bolster politically fraught international treaties and voluntary networks with strategies that exploit the strengths of a variety of traditional and nontraditional actors. With this paper we examine just such an innovation in the form of a multisector and multilevel network linking together the regional authority Metro Vancouver in the Canadian province of British Columbia, several municipal governments, a social enterprise, and a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises to act on climate change. This case demonstrates that while complementarity of actions across levels and sectors is not always achieved, it is nonetheless likely to contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emission reductions in the urban context. Interview and survey data also highlight that each sector and level of governance can provide what it is good at or capable of in order to enable others to contribute their share. Whether this is done on an ad hoc basis or in the form of partnerships, networks or agreements may vary from case to case, and further research is needed to understand what forms of multilevel and multisector partnerships, networks, and agreements are most conducive to achieving desired outcomes.

Keywords: climate change; governance; small businesses; networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envirc:v:31:y:2013:i:5:p:822-840

DOI: 10.1068/c1206

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