Ecopreneurship
Pursuing an environmental-related mission with a long-term commitment to environmental sustainability
A variety of terms have been used to describe entrepreneurship behavior conducted through an environmental lens including ecopreneurship, eco-entrepreneurship, environmental entrepreneurship, enviropreneurship, green entrepreneurship and green-green businesses. Regardless of the term used, key characteristics and elements of entrepreneurship conducted to pursue an environmental-related mission and purpose include a long-term commitment to environmental sustainability; the development, offer and sale of environmentally-friendly products or services; operations based on green design and processes; and a visionary commitment to popularizing eco-friendly ideas and innovations (i.e., “change the world” by promoting sweeping changes of habit within society to reduce environmental impacts). Green businesses generally start small, driven by idealists focused on a sustainable niche, and eventually give way to larger firms with the resources to open the niche to the wider range of consumers that begin to demand the products and services that the ecopreneur pioneered.
My chapter on Ecopreneurship covers definitions and conceptualizations of environmental entrepreneurship, factors driving and influencing ecopreneurship, typologies of ecopreneurs, ecological economics and measuring environmental management performance.