Stakeholder Involvement and Alliances for Sustainable Households

Abstract

Achieving sustainability requires profound changes in both our consumption patterns and present methods of production. Making production and consumption systems sustainable, however, implies the involvement and support of many stakeholders. Today, it is widely supported that changes necessary on the level of systems require the involvement of all the main societal groups including governments, companies, public interest groups, the public and research bodies (e.g. Vergragt and Jansen, 1993; Weaver et. al., 2000). However, involvement alone is not sufficient as each societal group should actively contribute to the necessary changes within their specific roles and possibilities. Clearly, one societal group or a single stakeholder cannot carry out all necessary activities, as it commonly requires co-ordination and co-operation among and between social actors and stakeholders. Co-operation can take the form of concrete partnerships and alliances, while for instance, Roome (2001) emphasises the role of environmental networks of stakeholders that work together based on a shared vision.