Abstract
This study investigates which climate change frames environmental entrepreneurs can employ in their project descriptions while seeking crowdfunding on online platforms. An explorative analysis of 58 climate change mitigation projects was conducted in four countries with different degrees of maturity of crowdfunding market. The following climate change frames prevail, and appear particularly in the descriptions of the projects with successful campaigns: promotion goal frame, humans-related impact frame, positive valence frame, and near future and now time frame. Many projects with successful crowdfunding campaigns also mention their location. This study contributes to the sustainable crowdfunding literature by addressing an underexplored topic of framing and following a qualitative in-depth approach. Moreover, it can help environmental entrepreneurs understand the landscape of framing opportunities and therefore make a more informed choice of what kind of frames to employ in their project descriptions.
Highlights
Anthropogenic climate change presents a global threat to human societies and the planet, with potentially devastating consequences (UNEP, 2020; IPCC, 2018), making climate actions more urgent than ever
This study provides an explorative review of climate change frames used by environmental entrepreneurs in their project descriptions pub lished on online crowdfunding platforms
An explorative analysis of 58 climate change mitigation projects was con ducted in four countries with different degrees of maturity of crowd funding market
Summary
Anthropogenic climate change presents a global threat to human societies and the planet, with potentially devastating consequences (UNEP, 2020; IPCC, 2018), making climate actions more urgent than ever. Climate change mitigation technologies might be risky and costly to develop; according to Messeni Petruzzelli et al (2019), the need to balance economic and environmental goals adds ambiguity that can make projects less attractive for traditional investors than pure for-profit projects, especially in the early funding phases. By bringing like-minded individuals, firms and investors together, crowdfunding can help to scale up sustainable innovations developed by environmental entrepreneurs (Brabham, 2008; Bocken et al, 2014), and in this way contribute to achieving the scale at which climate change mitigation technologies might make a significant dif ference on a global level
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