Environmental leadership : The Environmental Technology Sector in Sweden from an Ecopreneurship Perspective

• Economic actors and entrepreneurs are the central agents of change in the process of transformation needed to solve environmental challenges. The growing recognition of environmental issues has provided entrepreneurs with new opportunities, resulting in the emergence of ecopreneurs. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the character of ecopreneurship in the environmental technology sector, with focus on environmental responsibility and environmental leadership at both the company and sector level. The survey of companies and representatives of branch organisations in four environmental technology subsectors: Waste Management & Recycling, Bioenergy Fuels, Wind Energy Technology and Solar Energy Technology is based on telephone and personal interviews as well as on environmentally related information and statements on the websites. The literature review shows that there are different approaches to categorizing ecopreneurs and sustainability entrepreneurs. A key dimension is the value and motives of entrepreneurs, with dichotomy between opportunistic ecopreneurs, and those driven more by nonprofit value. Environmental technology and cleantech are commonly accepted as being green businesses as these sectors deliver environmental preferable products and services.  According to the results there is a strong awareness about this environmental friendly profile within subsectors of environmental technology industry, both within branch organizations and within companies. However, this awareness does not always lead to a broader, green-green view of the environmental leadership. In many cases the branch organizations and the companies within environmental technology sector represent a more opportunistic approach towards environmental issues. Only one of branch organizations addresses environmental impacts of members.

Nyckelord

environmental leadership

ecopreneurship

opportunistic ecopreneurs

environmental technology

Energy- and Environmental Engineering

energi- och miljöteknik

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kap (ämneskategori)