Understanding community responses to the climate crisis: Factors leading to success or failure of citizen initiatives

Abstract

Citizen initiatives play a part in spreading awareness of climate change and climate action by also offering ways for citizens to take action towards adapting to and mitigating climate change. There is a need to create a better understanding of the organisation of citizen initiatives and what contributes to their success in the sustainable transition field. To address this need, an analytical framework was formed according to the literature. From the literature review, a list of factors significant to the success of citizen initiatives was made. The analytical framework was used during the empirical research phase that consisted of semi-structured interviews with founders and members of citizen initiatives. The circumstances in which an initiative operates determine the importance of different factors. Although the difference in context influences the importance of the factors, this research did find similarities between the relevance of the factors to the success. In addition, this study identified missing factors and obstacles an initiative encounters, which also influence the level of success citizen initiatives can achieve.