Private-sector actors initiating and driving local green co-creation partnerships

The literature praises the role of local co-creation for achieving the green Sustainable Development Goals, but we know precious little about what drives the initiation and successful completion of local green co-creation partnerships. To compensate this benign neglect, this article provides a purpose-built framework for understanding the conditions enabling private business or civil society entrepreneurs to initiate local co-creation of green transition projects and explaining what systemic, strategic and tactical-operational governance factors are likely to support private-sector initiators in driving such co-creation processes to a successful conclusion. The theoretical stipulations are explored through an empirical mixed-methods study of private-sector initiated green co-creation partnerships from three different parts of the world. The goal is to better understand how private-sector actors can exploit ‘collaborative advantage’ to produce city-wide green transitions. • Achieving the green Sustainable Development Goals require the engagement of a plethora of public, private and civic actors in local co-creation partnerships that can help fostering innovative sustainability solutions. • Contrary to the expectations of traditional theories of collaborative governance, private actors may act as initiators of local green co-creation, both in the Global North and the Global South. • Private-actor initiation of local green co-creation rely on the presence of several actor characteristics pertaining to motivation, opportunities, skills and resources. • Private actors may successfully initiate and drive local green co-creation when supported by different constellations of structural, strategic and tactical-operational governance factors.