Both theoretical and empirical research on cross-sector collaboration has rapidly increased from the early 2000s, while research on governance and collaboration has been changing the way how collaborative action and partnerships have been seen already since the 1980s. (Bryson et al 2015, 647 & Selsky and Parker 2005, 849) Empirical studies have provided important information on the collaboration between sectors in international, national, and regional levels in climate change mitigation and adaptation, but little is known how the involvement of private actors should be fostered in local climate action. (Klein, Juhola, and Landauer 2017, 1056) Climate action includes the actions taken to reduce the impact of climate change besides action to adapt to possible climatic changes. It should be noted that several areas of collaboration research are well developed, and these include areas such as effective collaboration leadership, the multilevel nature of collaboration, and likely collaboration outcomes. (Bryson et al 2015, 658-659) These findings support the argumentation of the thesis and later on, information for practitioners is collected from other areas of collaboration research when recommendations for action are proposed at the end of the thesis research.
Regardless, limitations on cross-sector research have been recognized. Research has proven that collaboration practice is ahead of collaboration scholarship and that scholars who focus on collaboration offer less theoretically grounded research that would be needed. Even though this research can be used by practitioners, more research that jointly brings practitioners and scholars together would be needed in cross-sector collaboration. (Popp et al 2014 as cited in Bryson et al 2015, 658-659) There are success stories about cross-sector collaboration, especially with effectiveness and efficiency, but the value of public service highly depends on the sectoral choice for collaboration. (Andrews and Entwistle 2010, 679) The difficulties and challenges of collaboration have also been studied by Vangen and Huxham (2012) and Popp et al (2014). The thesis study aims to make a contribution to collaboration management in the prospect of environment management and climate action planning.
7 1.4 Research objective and questions
The main objective of the study is to evaluate the views, interests, and motives of the private sector in relevance to climate change and collaborative climate action through the case study of Imatra. The aim is to recognize the possible opportunities, challenges, and conflicts in cross-sector collaboration based on factors recognized in the collaboration. The focus is on small and medium-sized companies in Imatra that are not directly affected by climate change or carbon neutrality within their actions but would be still ideal partners for the city when planning actions for carbon neutrality.
The research provides further recommendations for Imatra and creates models that could be used in same-sized cities in Finland when planning collaborative cross-sector climate action.
This allows broader material to be analyzed and highlights the commonalities that may arise from the literature review and further analysis of the collected empirical data. The focus will be on collaboration between the public and private sectors to recognize opportunities for collaboration within local policy planning and management within municipalities. By analyzing the views, motives, and interests of the private sector it is possible to recognize conflicts on local climate policy and obstacles on implementing climate targets. The main research question supplemented by several sub-question is listed below.
Main research question:
What challenges and opportunities can be identified from companies’ current climate actions and further motives, interests, and values on climate collaboration when planning collaborative cross-sector climate action at a local level?
Sub-questions:
a. What is the role of cross-sector collaboration in local climate work and how can it be used in the planning and implementation of public-private collaboration?
b. How can continuous and successful collaboration and partnerships be achieved between actors in climate-related work?
c. What factors and obstacles are identified from the empirical data concerning companies' current practices and views on climate collaboration?
8 1.5 Outline of the study and limitations
The research topic was chosen in December 2020 with the main part of the research conducted during spring 2021. See Figure 1 for the outline of the study. The first part of the thesis includes the introduction to the background and objective of the thesis in addition to presenting the supporting framework for the thesis project. Theoretical approaches and the current state of the research for cross-sector collaboration are discussed in the setting of local public-private climate action. Additionally, the values, motives, and interests are further discussed as these are important in the latter part of the thesis.
Figure 1: Outline of the study.
INTRODUCTION
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Collaboration
Climate action
Public-private
From theory to practice
METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH DESIGN
CASE STUDY: Imatra
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Supporting practices with theory
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In the second part of the thesis, the case study Imatra is introduced alongside methodological choices used in the research. The empirical data is collected from literature review and questionnaire, and later stakeholder analysis is used as the method of analysis. From there, the results of the research are analysed, and recommendations are provided. The questionnaire was conducted in February 2021. By the end of the month in April 2021, the results of the questionnaire were analysed with the supporting empirical data and the thesis returned for evaluation.
A few limitations are recognized in this master’s thesis research. It should be noted that this research will not provide any recommendations for the private sector in relevance to the public-private collaboration relations, e.g., on planning companies’ policies, strategies, or models for sustainability, carbon neutrality, and climate change. This thesis will solely focus to serve the public sector and evaluate the interests, motives, and views of the private sector in the account of how these affect collaboration planning and management by the public sector, especially at the city level.
Additionally, a policy recommendation for the case study city, Imatra, will be given based on the empirical data collected. Even though this recommendation can be used by other cities sharing similar characteristics with Imatra, this way the results of empirical data being somewhat generalized, this research will not guide policymakers on a wider national level.
Bryson, Crosby, and Stone (2015, 659) recognize the challenges in cross-sector collaboration and note that providing research-based guidance for the design and implementation of cross-sector collaborations to policymakers is substantial. This is due to the methodological challenges and the complexity of the issue, and further research would be needed to use the framework on a more national or international level.
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2 FRAMEWORKS ON COLLABORATION
Theoretical approaches and frameworks are used to understand a specific phenomenon better or from a different perspective. The theoretical framework can bring focus on how different actors, levels, and institutional arenas interact for knowledge sharing, action coordination, and collaboration in the making of decisions for collective and shared outcomes. (Ansell and Torfing 2016, 1) In this chapter, it will be noticed that cross-sector collaboration is a complex issue and that there is no single “theory” of collaboration. By introducing different theories and concepts for collaboration, a baseline can be determined for later empirical research. Most examples introduced in this research focus on climate mitigation, but it should be noted that also actions for adaptation are an option when planning cross-sector collaboration.
2.1 Actors at a local level
Actors, parties, bodies, stakeholders; all of these concepts are used to describe the participants of collaboration. In this master’s thesis research, the concept ‘actor’ is used to describe the collaborating party. It should be noted that even though stakeholder theory and analysis are introduced and used in this research, ‘stakeholder’ as a concept is not; this is due to the controversy of the word. There is no consensus as to what stakeholder means due to the variety of definitions with the differ especially on the ‘claiment’ aspect of these definitions. (Miles 2012, 285-286) In this master’s thesis research, the stakeholder as a concept does not serve the study. When discussing individual companies, stakeholders could only be used to describe specific actors as a group; however, in this research, it is important to view the companies separately even though some commonalities can be drawn in the analysis phase.
The public and private sectors are studied in this research. Lane (2000, 1-2) defines that the public sector includes the institutions of politics and government, providing both public services and goods, while the private sector constitutes various market institutions. In addition to the public and private sectors, the voluntary sector includes non-governmental organizations. The public and private sectors are specifically studied on a local level and in this research project, the local level is used to refer to municipal governments, such as the city of Imatra. Many actions at a local level support the national, regional, and international political decisions made on
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climate change and carbon neutrality with these policies recognizing the increasing need for public-private climate collaboration.
Kettl (2015, 224-226) describes the governmental bodies' job to define the values on behalf of the community, set the floor for discussion and decision-making, ensure equity, provide funding for social and economic goals, and manage risks. Protecting and managing that which is shared, so-called commons, are governments responsibility; however, difficulties arise when taking a closer look at the means and extent of that responsibility. (Kaufmann 2010, 337)
Recent research shows that sub-national actors, like regions, localities, and cities, have an increasing role and growing influence on environmental and climate change issues. As stated in the IPCC Summary for City Practitioners (2018, 7), cities must promote alignment with citywide GHG reductions, strong cooperation among cities, businesses, and residents, leaderships of climate education, and awareness of climate risks and solutions, and rapid adoption of new carbon-reduction technologies. As a result, cities are setting more ambiguous targets for GHGs reduction than what the national levels of governance have set, and as part of this, forming transnational alliances and setting their initials to address climate change. (Evans 2012, 71 and 73) While land-use planning and transportation are the sectors where cities have the most important part to play, increasing smart energy management in the built environment within both new and old development and buildings indicates cities' responsiveness to the current climate projections and policies. (Betsill and Bulkeley 2003, 180)
In Nordic countries, decision-making in planning has graduated toward municipalities from where it is outsourced increasingly to private sector to take advantage of the local knowledge.
(Kristjánsdóttir 2017, 317-318) In Finland, local public sector roles have a focus on community planning. Community planning is mainly made by the municipality official which is why municipalities have such an important role in determining which direction urban structure goes.
Both municipalities and governments should favor public procurement decisions that support climate-friendly and carbon-neutral targets. Municipalities and municipality officials have an additional important role in inspiring and informing companies, organizations, and citizens in their climate actions. (Berninger 2012, 155)
Within the private sector, companies' role in environmental protection has changed in recent years. Pinkse (2015, 218) discuss how corporations used to be the actors opposing
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environmental governance, often trying to postpone environmental regulations. Nowadays, the private sector has adapted more proactive role, e.g., through corporate social responsibility (CSR). Frederick (2018, 4) define CSR as the actions taken by a company that deliberately increases the social well-being of those people who are affected by the actions of the company.
According to Evans (2012, 63-64), the private sector is nowadays trying to respond to the market pressure from investors and customers, regulatory pressure from governments, and social pressure from the public and NGOs to improve their operations for more environmentally friendly. Economic growth can be seen as automatically harming the environment which is why companies are key players on environmental governance to achieve a win-win situation where both the targets on environmental protection and economic development are met.
In addition to the public sector and private sector, there are several other actors in environmental studies. Berninger (2012, 154-164) brings attention to the importance of involving all the actors in carbon neutrality to ensure carbon-neutral activities become common practice. Officials, public procurements, politicians, private companies, scholars and research funding, media, artists and public figures, educators, NGOs, and active citizens all have a part to play to ensure that the global 2050 target is met. Fröhlich and Knieling (2013, 11-12) introduce the diversity of actors in climate change, pointing out how actors with multiple different perspectives and interests lead to several levels of responsibilities and duties among the actors.
2.2 Climate action: sustainability and carbon neutrality
Climate action can be determined as all the actions taken to reduce the impact of climate change, e.g., through the introduction of sustainable and low-carbon practices and reduction of GHGs.
Munasinghe and Swart (2005, 3) state how society is vulnerable to climatic change, which is why there needs to be a response to these changes, both through mitigation and adaptation.
Climate change mitigation means the intervention to reduce the sources of GHGs or enhance the sinks of GHGs, while adaptation is the adjustment of both human and natural systems for the actual and expected climatic changes. (Kongsager 2018, 3) Two concepts will be introduced in this sub-chapter; sustainability and carbon neutrality, as these are interlinked especially when discussing actions that the private sector can take to introduce sustainable and low-carbon practices.
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As stated previously, Berninger (2012, 13) emphasizes the importance of tackling unsustainable issues especially on energy production, buildings, transportation, and food, e.g., through the promotion of sustainable and low-carbon practices. This argumentation supports the ideology of sustainable development but furthermore ensures that a carbon-neutral society is achievable, too. World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) define sustainable development as development that “meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Heinberg (2010, 13) discovers that the essence of the term sustainability is that which can be maintained over time.
Both definitions show that the meaning of sustainability is that society needs to be maintained sustainably to ensure its functions and development in the long term too. This means that both the processes that generate social health and well-being, and the institutions that facilitate economic and environmental sustainability, need to be sustainable now and in the future.
(Dillard, Dujon and King 2010, 21-23)
According to Dahal and Niemelä (2016, 2), artificial carbon emissions are balanced in carbon neutrality by offsetting emissions-cutting actions and sustainable, often renewable, energy production methods. The primary carbon gas causing global warming is carbon dioxide (CO2), due to its long stay in the atmosphere and its high surface warming capacity potential, but other key GHGs include methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFC). As the targets for a carbon-neutral society have been set for 2050 with national targets supporting it, states take into account their income and development levels when planning the national net-zero emission targets. These targets revolve around four key actions: 1) decarbonized electricity production; 2) electrification and were not possible, switch to cleaner fuels; 3) improved efficiency, and reduced waste; and 4) preservation and increase of carbon sinks. (Fay et al 2015, 26-27) With energy efficiency, it is meant that people are doing more with less. Increasing efficiency, meaning that fewer resources, labor, or money, are used to do more, enables more sustainable growth. (Heinberg 2010, 9)
Laine, Heinonen, and Junnila (2020, 1 and 11-12) have discussed the pathways to carbon-neutral cities before implementing a national policy with the findings indicating that most of the measures set for the carbon neutrality process were outside of the city's jurisdiction with outsourcing the responsibility to private properties or national actors with broader boundaries.
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When the city does not allocate its electricity production, although it is owned by the city, significant carbon reduction potential is excluded, and responsibility is shifted. The main findings emphasize that carbon promotion and allocation should be done by the city to further support carbon-neutral city targets and to shift the responsibility back to the city, e.g., from the central government. Furthermore, Lukkarinen et. al (2020, 34) discuss how one aspect of the transformative path of energy is the need for change in the energy services market. For instance, energy companies are important enablers of the transformation of housing companies as managers of electricity and heating networks. For the time being, the service design of many energy companies does not yet take proper account of the role of citizens and energy companies as active collaboratives.
2.3 Collaboration
2.3.1 Cross-sector collaborations and partnerships
“Parties who see different aspects of a problem can constructively explore their differences and search for solutions that go beyond their own limited vision of what is possible” - Barbara Gray (1989, 5)
As previously defined, collaboration is the interaction between two or more actors who share the same desire or need to achieve a particular goal or outcome. (Owen and Larson 2017, 9-10) Collaboration requires two-way communication and actors in collaboration must meet together in the deliberative process. (Ansell and Gash 2008, 546) Deliberative decision-making is a problem-solving process where actors justify their validity claims, listen to each other with respect, and, if needed, re-evaluate their claims based on the new information and counterarguments from the opposing actor(s). (Öberg 2016, 180) Thus, collaboration is used for problems where one actor cannot solve the issue alone, and therefore collaboration is needed to either generate new information or solve a shared challenge or problem.
It is important to distinguish the concept of collaboration from the one of partnership. A partnership is an arrangement between at least two people or groups who are working together but have specific roles and responsibilities, and a set of rules, and they can be seen as more intense and deeper than collaboration. (Owen and Larson 2017, 9-10) Furthermore, partnerships enable organizations to support each other by combining their strengths and capabilities through
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collaborative advantage or synergy where resources are combined. (Andrews and Entwistle 2010, 679-680) In addition to collaboration and partnerships, the concept of network needs to be understood and differentiate from the mentioned concepts. Networks can be defined as the organizational form for the coordination of actors from different societal fields. (Schmid, Knierim, and Knuth 2015, 67) Collaborations are specific types of networked relationships;
therefore, all collaborations are networks but not all networks are collaboration. (Bryson et al 2015, 659)
Cross-sector collaboration and partnerships, cross-sector social partnerships, and social partnerships are all further used to define the collaborative action between organizations.
(Bryson et al 2006, 44 and Selsky and Parker 2005, 850) For this master’s thesis research, cross-sector collaboration is used as a term to address collaborative action that engages two or more actors in at least two different local sectors in their aims or projects to address social issues and causes. Therefore, cross-sector collaboration can be defined as partnerships between the government, business, nonprofits, communities, and the public who are either linking or sharing information, resources, activities, and capabilities between organizations either in two or more sectors to achieve the outcome not possible to be achieved in one sector separately. (Bryson et
(Bryson et al 2006, 44 and Selsky and Parker 2005, 850) For this master’s thesis research, cross-sector collaboration is used as a term to address collaborative action that engages two or more actors in at least two different local sectors in their aims or projects to address social issues and causes. Therefore, cross-sector collaboration can be defined as partnerships between the government, business, nonprofits, communities, and the public who are either linking or sharing information, resources, activities, and capabilities between organizations either in two or more sectors to achieve the outcome not possible to be achieved in one sector separately. (Bryson et