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Citizen participation is a recurrent and democratically important issue in the ongoing debate about climate change. However, different meanings are ascribed to citizen participation in different contexts and discourses, ranging from top-down involvement to bottom-up engagement. This article investigates citizen participation as it emerges in two discussion fora, viz. a global forum represented by the international conference Beyond Kyoto, including a vast selection of international actors, and a local forum represented by the municipal project Energy Town Frederikshavn in the northern periphery of Denmark. We analyze how central actors are called upon to act, and how citizens are addressed in the call for action in the two sets of data. Paving the way for the empirical analysis, the first part of the article gives a review of contemporary literature on climate change typologies and discourses within different research fields, assessing how citizen participation is articulated within these discourses. Finally, we address some needs for increased citizen participation in the climate change debate.

Citizen participation is a recurrent and democratically important issue in the ongoing debate about climate change. However, different meanings are ascribed to citizen participation in different contexts and discourses, ranging from top-down involvement to bottom-up engagement. This article investigates citizen participation as it emerges in two discussion fora, viz. a global forum represented by the international conference Beyond Kyoto, including a vast selection of international actors, and a local forum represented by the municipal project Energy Town Frederikshavn in the northern periphery of Denmark. We analyze how central actors are called upon to act, and how citizens are addressed in the call for action in the two sets of data. Paving the way for the empirical analysis, the first part of the article gives a review of contemporary literature on climate change typologies and discourses within different research fields, assessing how citizen participation is articulated within these discourses. Finally, we address some needs for increased citizen participation in the climate change debate.

This paper analyzes the ability of water utilities to contribute to sustainability transition processes. More specifically, we compare the capacity of utilities, embedded in purely public, mixed and largely private governance modes, to innovate. We employ dynamic capabilities as core indicators for innovativeness and therefore as major enabling factors for sustainable sector transitions. We assess the relationship between governance modes and innovation by conducting an in-depth comparative analysis of three water utilities, each within a differing governance mode along the public-to-private continuum: Zurich, Berlin and Leeds. While we find that the private and mixed governance modes have an increased degree of innovativeness, they perform lower in terms of static sustainability criteria than the public mode. We therefore conclude that the impact of privatization on sustainability transitions in the water sector involves multi-dimensional trade-offs between static and dynamic sustainability criteria.

This paper analyzes the ability of water utilities to contribute to sustainability transition processes. More specifically, we compare the capacity of utilities, embedded in purely public, mixed and largely private governance modes, to innovate. We employ dynamic capabilities as core indicators for innovativeness and therefore as major enabling factors for sustainable sector transitions. We assess the relationship between governance modes and innovation by conducting an in-depth comparative analysis of three water utilities, each within a differing governance mode along the public-to-private continuum: Zurich, Berlin and Leeds. While we find that the private and mixed governance modes have an increased degree of innovativeness, they perform lower in terms of static sustainability criteria than the public mode. We therefore conclude that the impact of privatization on sustainability transitions in the water sector involves multi-dimensional trade-offs between static and dynamic sustainability criteria.

Abstract The contribution of a single firm to sustainable development is largely dependent on the firm's perceptions of the advantages of sustainability strategies and consequent practices. The relationship between corporate social performance and corporate financial performance has been heavily debated, with mixed results. Our research is aimed at defining a model in which sustainability practices affect firm financial performance via strategic drivers or antecedents of firm success. We used structural equation modeling on data collected via survey of 348 Italian manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises. We included four constructs dedicated to sustainability, a construct dedicated to financial performance and four constructs measuring the possible mediators in the sustainability-financial performance relationship. We found that the social, economic and formal practices dimensions of sustainability positively affect competitive advantage, mediated by corporate reputation, customer satisfaction and organisational commitment. We also found competitive advantage to be a second-stage mediator that positively contributes to financial performance. The contribution of our study lies in having tested a new model of the sustainability-financial performance relationship, considering each dimension of sustainability and a path through different mediators in an under-explored context—that of manufacturing small businesses in a European country.

Abstract The contribution of a single firm to sustainable development is largely dependent on the firm's perceptions of the advantages of sustainability strategies and consequent practices. The relationship between corporate social performance and corporate financial performance has been heavily debated, with mixed results. Our research is aimed at defining a model in which sustainability practices affect firm financial performance via strategic drivers or antecedents of firm success. We used structural equation modeling on data collected via survey of 348 Italian manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises. We included four constructs dedicated to sustainability, a construct dedicated to financial performance and four constructs measuring the possible mediators in the sustainability-financial performance relationship. We found that the social, economic and formal practices dimensions of sustainability positively affect competitive advantage, mediated by corporate reputation, customer satisfaction and organisational commitment. We also found competitive advantage to be a second-stage mediator that positively contributes to financial performance. The contribution of our study lies in having tested a new model of the sustainability-financial performance relationship, considering each dimension of sustainability and a path through different mediators in an under-explored context—that of manufacturing small businesses in a European country.

The literature on real options shows that irreversibilities, uncertainties about future benefits and costs, and the flexibility in decision making generate benefits and costs of delaying immediate action. When applied to government policy making, real option models can lead to efficient policies that take full account of these trade-offs, but they can also cause strategic behavior that tries to delay policies through influencing important elements such as downside risks. This contribution reviews the latest developments in real option–based policy research by looking at what we know about the benefits from waiting (the good), the costs from waiting (the bad), and how strategic behavior can influence policies (the ugly). Much has been said in the literature about the good and the bad, but more work is needed to study the ugly aspects of real option–driven policies.

The literature on real options shows that irreversibilities, uncertainties about future benefits and costs, and the flexibility in decision making generate benefits and costs of delaying immediate action. When applied to government policy making, real option models can lead to efficient policies that take full account of these trade-offs, but they can also cause strategic behavior that tries to delay policies through influencing important elements such as downside risks. This contribution reviews the latest developments in real option–based policy research by looking at what we know about the benefits from waiting (the good), the costs from waiting (the bad), and how strategic behavior can influence policies (the ugly). Much has been said in the literature about the good and the bad, but more work is needed to study the ugly aspects of real option–driven policies.