NEW RESEARCH | How social innovations work to save the environment

Most social innovations are developed to address social inequalities or to bring marginalized groups into the labour market. More rarely do we hear about social initiatives designed to save the environment and climate. What characterizes them?

– The people behind the initiatives have in common that they want to solve a societal challenge, and profoundly change people’s behavior when it comes to specific areas, says Lucas Haskell, Umeå School of Business.

In his doctoral thesis, he studied how actors who create social initiatives to promote environmental sustainability do so by changing people’s behavior (the behavioral change becomes a social innovation, editors note).

Offers mainly services

The study includes social initiatives in the second-hand market and the mobility and transport sector, among others. One of the companies studied, located in Västerbotten, wants to reduce people’s car use and solves this by renting out box bikes via a sharing service.

– This has led to many people taking their children to nursery school on a box bike rather than by car. Another company offers customers an electric moped taxi instead of a car taxi.

– These initiatives are designed to help people change their consumption habits and adopt new, more environmentally friendly ways of getting around.

A common feature of social innovations that promote environmental sustainability is that they offer services rather than products to change people’s behavior.

– It is the daily behaviors, what we have a routine around, that these companies want to change. How can we make people buy more second-hand? How can we reduce car use in the city?

Money is not a driving force

The driving force behind companies working on this type of initiative is to solve a problem – not to make money. Today, there are many more people riding box bikes around the city of Västerbotten than five years ago. Many have bought their own box bikes or rent them from other operators, says Lucas Haskell.

– The original initiative has had a ripple effect. And that pleases the company in my study, because the important thing for them is to have helped people move from one environmentally unsustainable behavior, to another more sustainable one. Getting rich has never been a motive.

In the field of social innovation, the focus is mostly on social and economic sustainability. The environmental perspective receives less attention. Why is your research important?

– I believe we need to prioritize environmental sustainability, as it is environmental and climate challenges that often lead to social and economic problems. We are already seeing many examples of refugee flows caused by the impact of climate change on agriculture, for example – and experts predict it will get worse.

– Therefore, we need to address the root problem by changing our lifestyle and habits. Social innovations focused on environmental sustainability are therefore important to study. In addition, it is important that organizations supporting social initiatives receive financial support to continue supporting this type of entrepreneurship,” says Lucas Haskell.

Contact lucas.haskell@umu.se

More about the thesis
Lucas Haskell will defend his thesis Social innovation and environmental sustainability – Towards strongly sustainable social innovation on October 18, 2024 at Umeå University. The doctoral thesis includes three other studies in addition to the one mentioned in the article. Lucas Haskell’s doctoral education is partly funded by Coompanion Västerbotten.