Green Community Entrepreneurship Travis Gliedt Paul Parker University of Waterloo Presented at the Social Economy Conference University of Toronto April 2007, Toronto, ON

Overview Social Economy Definition How does the process of entrepreneurship in the social economy differ from the for-profit sector? Green Community Entrepreneurship Social Economy Ecological Economics Social Entrepreneurship Environmental Entrepreneurship GCE in Green Communities Canada Conceptual Framework of GCE Policy Implications

Social Economy Revenue Generation Traditional Entrepreneurial Quarter (1992): ‘vision of social transformation’ McMurtry (2004): reincorporate transformative approach Westlund (2003): social and commercial economies should be viewed as ‘parts of a continuous spectrum’ Revenue Generation Traditional donations Entrepreneurial commerce, fees, etc. Social benefits are defined broadly to include environmental benefits as both are externalities to firms. Tension Third sector non-profit organizations providing socially-beneficial products or services designed to fill a gap left by the government and the competitive for-profit market.

For-Profit Social Economy How does entrepreneurship in the social economy differ from the for-profit sector? For-Profit Social Economy Individual Financial Capital Idea Patenting Profit Objective Collective Social Capital Idea Sharing Social Objective Green Community Entrepreneurship … The collective ability to mobilize resources, including social capital, to provide products or services that achieve environmental rather than profit maximising goals.

Case Study: Green Communities Canada (GCC) and EnerGuide for Houses (EGH) Successful EGH service provider since 1998 Largest program and revenue source for many green community organizations 2005 expansion of program, November 2006 new federal government, January Cancellation of Program, May new evaluations – 1 day notice Follow-up evaluations – 12 months How will green communities respond?

GCE in Green Communities Canada N=12 GCOs; May 2006 - January 2007 Creative Response % Energy Related 45 service innovations 29 proposals 24 ideas / opportunities 76% 70% 63% GCO managers … “I must say that creativity and organizational structure/funding are quite inter-related…some sort of foundation or stability helps make creativity possible”. “We survived due to guts, determination, and entrepreneurship!” GCE helped GCOs Survive and Thrive

New Service Innovations by Type – Energy vs Non-Energy Related

Green Community Entrepreneurship Social Entrepreneurship Individual Collective Facilitating Factors Drivers Team Functional Environmental Sustainability Objective Strategic Partnerships Green Community Entrepreneurship Social Capital Network Funding Shock Market Collapse Human Capital Creative Responses Accelerated Development of Existing Idea New Idea and Implementation Expanded Scale of Existing Service

Implications of GCE GCE as a tool for LED and SD GCE can aid CEM objectives Climate change mitigation and adaptation Joint project implementation between social entrepreneurs and environmental entrepreneurs GCE long term organizational stability

Questions?