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friendly start-up enterprises as well as green small and medium companies, we recognise positive efforts to achieve sustainability in several regions of the world. On
the one hand, enterprises have business-based solutions, addressing structural
causes of environmental degradation and problems to solve and prevent these, and,
on the other hand, enterprises help achieve sustainability by the organisation of their
internal and external management processes.
Existing Green Economy Trends on the Local Level
Dealing with the concept of Environmental Citizenship based on definition by
ENEC (2018), several trends of green economy and sustainability entrepreneurship
can be recognised in mainstream and alternative economics. The understanding of
single business models and the borders of definitions of the following examples are
often fluent. A broader discussion about the examples would enriched this topic.
Nevertheless, we briefly list four examples:
1. The concept of eco-social enterprises: mainly driven in the social ecological economics, this means that both a mainstream and a radical perspective exist. The five
key dimensions of such an enterprise are ‘(1) other-than-profit goals, (2) using
profit to replenish nature and community, (3) democratic and localised ownership
and governance pattern, (4) rootedness in place and time and (5) non-market production, exchange or provisioning patterns’ (Johanisová and Franková 2013).
2. Environmentally motivated social enterprises: three main types can be differentiated. These are (1) small and locally embedded companies with local ownership
and control as well as close contact to the local community, (2) expertise- oriented
companies sharing and selling knowledge and (3) companies with labourintensive services for the public sector (Vickers and Lyon 2012).
3. Eco-friendly start-up enterprises: one of the main characteristic of this type of
business is facing challenges with a feasible business model in an innovative
way. Nowadays, sustainability is one of the key drivers of economic innovation
(Nidumolu et al. 2009), and a rising number of start-ups are focusing on ecological issues (e.g. renewable energy, sustainable consumption, eco-friendly mobility, sharing economy).
4. Companies with environmental management accounting (EMA): the engagement of small, medium and large companies regarding ecological issues is rising. More and more enterprises act in an environmentally friendly manner. The
trend of greening industry processes can be already observed for 35 years within
frameworks like EMAs or ISO (Freimann et al. 2016).
Sustainably driven entrepreneurship could realise both a gap-filling function and
a catalytic function in a society. The first addresses the gaps left by commercial
enterprises, industry companies and government bodies in provisioning critical
social and environmental goods and services. These types of entrepreneurships have
positive influences on disadvantaged populations and specific ecosystems (Parrish
and Foxon 2006).
Concerning the economic value, we must note that eco-social entrepreneurs
often do not want to build up a company where they create just economic profit and
3 Economic Dimensions of Environmental Citizenship
friendly start-up enterprises as well as green small and medium companies, we recognise positive efforts to achieve sustainability in several regions of the world. On
the one hand, enterprises have business-based solutions, addressing structural
causes of environmental degradation and problems to solve and prevent these, and,
on the other hand, enterprises help achieve sustainability by the organisation of their
internal and external management processes.
Existing Green Economy Trends on the Local Level
Dealing with the concept of Environmental Citizenship based on definition by
ENEC (2018), several trends of green economy and sustainability entrepreneurship
can be recognised in mainstream and alternative economics. The understanding of
single business models and the borders of definitions of the following examples are
often fluent. A broader discussion about the examples would enriched this topic.
Nevertheless, we briefly list four examples:
1. The concept of eco-social enterprises: mainly driven in the social ecological economics, this means that both a mainstream and a radical perspective exist. The five
key dimensions of such an enterprise are ‘(1) other-than-profit goals, (2) using
profit to replenish nature and community, (3) democratic and localised ownership
and governance pattern, (4) rootedness in place and time and (5) non-market production, exchange or provisioning patterns’ (Johanisová and Franková 2013).
2. Environmentally motivated social enterprises: three main types can be differentiated. These are (1) small and locally embedded companies with local ownership
and control as well as close contact to the local community, (2) expertise- oriented
companies sharing and selling knowledge and (3) companies with labourintensive services for the public sector (Vickers and Lyon 2012).
3. Eco-friendly start-up enterprises: one of the main characteristic of this type of
business is facing challenges with a feasible business model in an innovative
way. Nowadays, sustainability is one of the key drivers of economic innovation
(Nidumolu et al. 2009), and a rising number of start-ups are focusing on ecological issues (e.g. renewable energy, sustainable consumption, eco-friendly mobility, sharing economy).
4. Companies with environmental management accounting (EMA): the engagement of small, medium and large companies regarding ecological issues is rising. More and more enterprises act in an environmentally friendly manner. The
trend of greening industry processes can be already observed for 35 years within
frameworks like EMAs or ISO (Freimann et al. 2016).
Sustainably driven entrepreneurship could realise both a gap-filling function and
a catalytic function in a society. The first addresses the gaps left by commercial
enterprises, industry companies and government bodies in provisioning critical
social and environmental goods and services. These types of entrepreneurships have
positive influences on disadvantaged populations and specific ecosystems (Parrish
and Foxon 2006).
Concerning the economic value, we must note that eco-social entrepreneurs
often do not want to build up a company where they create just economic profit and
3 Economic Dimensions of Environmental Citizenship