Crowdfunding for renewable and sustainable energy projects: An exploratory case study approach

Abstract

Global warming has become one of the major challenges faced by the world today. Use of renewable energy can help mitigate the adverse effects of climate change and environmental pollution. However, owing to high up-front costs and the risk of commercializing renewable energy initiatives compared with conventional technology, a barrier exists in securing financing of renewable energy projects. This article aims to explore the knowledge of the emerging crowdfunding in general and more specifically, to focus on how best to employ this new funding source for renewable and sustainable energy projects. Firstly, incorporation of literature findings is undertaken from two fields: crowdfunding and renewable energy development. A case study approach is employed to demonstrate how crowdfunding has been applied in renewable projects. Eight international cases were chosen to represent various crowdfunding models that differ in terms of reward and returns associated with the investment. Crowdfunding can play a significant role at the start of a renewable and sustainable energy project's life-cycle. A variety of crowdfunding approaches may be used to finance the early stages of renewable energy development, particularly when stakeholders are the beneficiaries, or the concerned groups related to environmental protection and sustainability. Crowdfunding is also suitable for supporting research and development efforts of innovative green technology start-ups. This article introduces crowdfunding as a new source of green financing and gives evidences for using crowdfunding in renewable and sustainable energy development, in comparison with other funding sources

Crowdfunding as a tool to support sustainability‐oriented initiatives: Preliminary insights into the role of product/service attributes

“…In turn, this provides room to other considerations rooted on the loose ideology characterizing the platform, rather than to traditional mechanisms to reduce uncertainty and incentivize funding. Beyond claiming the potential of CF in the context of sustainability (Bartenberger & Leitner, 2013;Belz & Binder, 2017;Bonzanini et al, 2016;Chiang, 2015;Goodman & Polycarpou, 2013;Lam & Law, 2016;Royal & Windsor, 2014;Vasileiadou, Huijben, & Raven, 2015), some conceptual and empirical works suggest a positive relationship between SO and the likelihood of success of CF projects (e.g., Bartenberger & Leitner, 2013;Calic & Mosakowski, 2016;Hemer, 2011;Lehner, 2013). For example, Calic and Mosakowski (2016) find that both environmental and social SOs of a project positively affect its success in CF and that these relationships are partially mediated by project creativity and third-party endorsements.…”

Firms with benefits: A systematic review of responsible entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility literature

“…Further, current RE work on crowdfunding (Lam & Law, 2016;Meyskens & Bird, 2015) and sustainable VC (Bocken, 2015;Scarlata et al, 2016) could be complemented by studies investigating the impact of responsibility initiatives on funding success (e.g., with angel investors or commercial VCs; Marcus et al, 2013). Further, current RE work on crowdfunding (Lam & Law, 2016;Meyskens & Bird, 2015) and sustainable VC (Bocken, 2015;Scarlata et al, 2016) could be complemented by studies investigating the impact of responsibility initiatives on funding success (e.g., with angel investors or commercial VCs; Marcus et al, 2013).…”

“…In this context, the challenge of balancing the three dimensions of the TBL deserves greater attention. Further, current RE work on crowdfunding (Lam & Law, 2016;Meyskens & Bird, 2015) and sustainable VC (Bocken, 2015;Scarlata et al, 2016) could be complemented by studies investigating the impact of responsibility initiatives on funding success (e.g., with angel investors or commercial VCs; Marcus et al, 2013). Relatedly, it may be of interest to examine whether and how venture valuations are affected by entrepreneurial responsibility efforts and how responsible start-ups perform from an aggregate perspective (mirroring some of the CSR research around CSP indexes).…”

Entrepreneurship as Facilitator for Sustainable Development? Editorial for the Special Issue “Advances in Sustainable Entrepreneurship”

“…In this context, crowdfunding for sustainable ventures experiences increasing attention, e.g., [12][13][14], but still a lot of aspects connected to the concept remain open for further investigations. Furthermore, the question how different actors can contribute to sustainability transitions is thematized in this special issue.…”