The policy recommendation for Climate Collaboration Plan was introduced in the sub-chapter above. Stakeholder analysis as a part of the Collaboration Plan is important for the public sector to recognize and analyze actors in the planned collaboration from the beginning. It should be noted that in this case the methodology of stakeholder analysis was used even though in the end focus lies more on determining specific actors, e.g., companies, impact in collaboration.
Introduced tools in stakeholder analysis can still be used and serve a clear purpose in identifying companies' roles and interests via analysis. The research findings (e.g., see sub-chapters 2.3.5 and 5.3) support the ideology of involving actors in collaboration through shared goals, values, and learning, and in this sub-chapter, it is discussed how the stakeholder analysis and tools are used in the proposed Climate Collaboration Plan, and why municipalities should involve stakeholder analysis in their climate collaboration.
Due to the anonymity of the respondents in the questionnaire, it was not possible to produce a direct stakeholder mapping for the city, especially since it is uncertain which companies would be involved in the collaboration. Therefore, a more overall view on how actors for collaboration should be analyzed was given in the Climate Collaboration Plan, including five steps on recognizing, categorizing, and analyzing the companies involved in the collaboration. These five steps are (adapted from Hautanen 2018): finding out companies that are going to collaborate (by asking questions on who is affected by the collaborative climate action, who are interested to join the collaboration, and which companies have either strong impact, power, or both, in
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carbon reduction and collaboration); finding out those companies’ needs (by determining what companies currently do for climate action, why are they interested on collaboration and what they want to achieve, how can they support or complicate collaboration); categorizing those companies (e.g. via stakeholder map were the basis of influence and interest are determined to help further identify those companies who need most/least support or could take more responsibility and provide tools for collaborating parties); setting up the communication with the companies (by using the means of communication, stages, and ways and frequently communicating); and updating and maintaining the analysis (by asking questions on how often analysis in checked, how the new actors are involved, how the changes in influence or interests are taken into account and how the current understanding of the climate work can be measured within the companies).
A mapping tool used in Excel to categorize and analyze the companies to support the introduced process steps were produced. The tool is used to recognize and prioritize the companies impacts, roles, needs, and motivations. The tool can be found in Finnish in appendix 3, attachment 2. In addition to the mapping tool, which is adapted from common stakeholder mapping tools, aspirations and requirements that the companies have for collaboration, are set in a separate sheet in the tool. For public-private collaboration, it is important to recognize what companies view as important in collaboration, and targeting the goals around these aspirations and requirements ensures actors' satisfaction in the process and better success in achieving the desired outcomes.
Secondly, an actual mapping for all the stakeholders within the collaboration should be used, too, by introducing suitable stakeholder analysis models into the process. There is a high chance that planned collaboration between public-private sectors would include involving other sectors and therefore recognizing these actors in collaboration from the start is important so that their interest and power can be identified and collaboration be planned accordingly. In the case of Imatra, companies have indicated their strong view on including public participation in climate action and showed that they value research institutes; these additional actors might play a role later on in the collaboration. In both cases, mapping of companies and stakeholder mapping, the evaluation of the analysis and actors is needed to be done frequently, e.g., once a year, to ensure analysis is used correctly and best possible results are achieved.
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7 CONCLUSIONS
The purpose of the research was to study collaborative cross-sector climate actions, especially on the public-private sector level. The main research question focused on how private sectors' current climate actions and companies' further motives, interests, and values on climate collaboration can affect local cross-sector collaborative climate action and how these aspects should be considered in the planning of collaboration and partnerships. To find the answers, the cross-sector collaboration was evaluated and the case study analyzed. Through the case study of Imatra, the companies' current climate actions and their views, motives, and values on climate action and collaboration were studied and conclusions were drawn on what aspects are important to note when planning collaboration. Findings were discussed in sub-chapter 5.3 and policy recommendation introduced in 5.4.
The literature review on the theory, in addition to the data analysis and findings of the questionnaire, illustrates the challenges that cross-sector collaboration face due to the complexity of the phenomenon. For practitioners, cross-sector collaboration requires identifying collaborative advantage, using the collaborative opportunities along the way, ensuring that a defined approach, such as a design approach, is used from the beginning of the collaboration, and involvement of the committed parties learning is built into the design of collaboration. The role of cross-sector collaboration in local climate work is evident and municipalities must look for ways to increase collaboration with other sectors. Collaboration should be integrated into the local policies and the planning and implementation of public-private collaboration need defining on how collaboration is built and what concrete ways are introduced in collaboration;
e.g. is collaboration intense between all actors or more focused on cooperation between different partnerships, and what low-carbon practices are used to reduce companies climate impact.
From there, both opportunities and obstacles are found on local collaborative cross-sector climate action from the research. First, the research shows the opportunities that cross-sector collaboration offers relevance to local climate action. Climate change mitigation and renewable energy promotion share mutual benefits for collaborating parties, even if the private and public sectors have differing motives. Once the city recognizes the opportunities on a local and regional level, knowledge and tools sharing from both public and a private side serve the learning and create commitment. Noticing the possible challenges in relevance to capacities helps ensure that
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companies are given only the amount of responsibility that they can bare. Accountability and transparency from all collaborating parties are needed and these should be built into the processes and structures of collaboration besides accomplishing clear, achievable targets.
Delivering from the theoretical findings, the questionnaire focused on how companies view climate action in their operations and what interests they would have for climate collaboration with the city.
One of the sub-research questions focused on the factors and obstacles identified from the questionnaire, specifically on how the differing views, motives, and values between public and private sectors can affect the success of climate collaboration. The analysis indicates that companies mainly view climate collaboration as positive and planned public-private collaboration would be supported by the climate actions that most of the companies already have in place. The majority of respondents take into account the environmental impact of the company’s activities by controlling how much waste they produce and how they recycle it. For some respondents, this was recognized as the only action they could control themselves within their operations. Particular interest was shown in developing energy and transport activities, which could also be areas of focus when planning common objectives and targets in collaboration.
Opportunities arise especially when deciding the level of collaboration. As accomplished, the respondents of the questionnaire felt that involving the public as a whole in climate action is important. Additionally, research institutes were ranked as an important factor in climate collaboration. As a neutral party, facilitator, the city could seek opportunities where networking between the private sector and research institutions, and other actors, are possible. The research focus has been on the actors in collaboration, and concepts such as existing networks, bridge-builders, sponsors, and champions were introduced. Recognizing the commitment that the individuals have in collaborating brings additional opportunities for close partnerships.
More continuous and successful collaboration and partnerships can be achieved when collaboration is fair, actors share the same values, and actors have a saying in target-setting.
Those actors sharing the same values and beliefs tend to collaborate more intensely. The findings of the questionnaire demonstrate that while many respondents feel that they share the same environmental values with the city, one-fifth were unsure about it. Sharing similar values
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and belief is an important aspect in collaboration; therefore, education and knowledge sharing can help companies to find the suitable environment and climate values for their operations which can later support the successful collaboration between the public and private sector.
Current practices recognized in the Ilmastokumppanuus project, such as themed events, networking events, and workshops can be aimed to educate companies on specific actions or aspects of climate change. Additionally, the cost plays an important part in collaborative climate action. Respondents saw that financial support is needed if energy-efficient and sustainable investments were to be realistic within small and mediums sized companies' operations, and the city should view options on how to support companies operations. When climate action is constantly being built between the sectors, appreciation for participation is shown.
The importance of the set of institutions and structures of these institutions, in addition to the processes and structures of collaboration, were determined during the research. While the focus of these theses lies on the actors’ views and roles in collaboration, the structures, institutions, and processes need further focus on the case study Imatra when the city starts planning the collaboration. These aspects are somewhat noted in policy recommendations for Imatra in sub-chapter 6.1, e.g., by introducing different tools and engagement methods that could be used in the collaboration. However, in the thesis research, these are just shortly introduced.
Future research in cross-sector collaboration should focus more on bringing the research and practice together to provide practitioners easier access to information, methods, and tools when planning collaboration between sectors. Additionally, the thesis research showed the complexity of the concept of ‘collaboration’ especially when considering the differing views on collaboration between companies and the public sector. It is needed for collaboration as a concept to match similar ideas both in theory and practice, with climate collaboration indicating the specific actions it requires from the collaborating parties.
In this thesis research, the instruments for climate actions were used to support the argumentation, e.g., by discussing the international, national and regional climate policies.
Furthermore, local strategies were introduced in the Imatra case. More research has been done to differentiate and analyze instruments, e.g., laws and emission trading, on an international level than on a local level. Different obligations are imposed on companies by laws and state laws in terms of objectives, and these laws apply to certain types of companies. However, the
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public-private sector has a different type of role, especially when discussing small and medium-sized companies, as the city does not enjoy the same role as the state concerning the environmental instruments, neither are companies expected to use obligatory instruments. The findings of this research aim to provide actions that could ensure the success of cross-sector collaboration at a local level, but more research is needed on the climate change instruments on a local level.
In conclusion, cross-sector collaboration in global social issues such as climate change calls for action for all levels of governance which is why governmental bodies cannot tackle the issue alone anymore. Besides recognizing the need for public-private collaborations, regional partnerships, e.g., between cities, are needed for sharing good practices between actors. Within the public-private collaboration, companies from all sectors and sizes should be involved in the planning of local climate policies and collaborative actions. Specific companies’ commitment will differ in collaboration, but when the city offers the option for companies to better understand their roles and responsibilities, interest and opportunities arise. Collaboration between actors should be promoted and the interest and power mapped. More active and intense collaboration is possible when actors accomplish shared values and targets besides sharing the decision-making power between actors per their capabilities. Municipalities' responsibilities lie in setting the platform for collaboration and networking while ensuring that knowledge and tools are shared between actors in the support of sustainable practices and reaching the targets for carbon neutrality.
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