Researchers have measured the effectiveness of crowdfunding for renewable energy projects in terms of human and environmental wellbeing
There is growing interest in crowdfunding as an alternative way to support projects focused on renewables. This comes at a time when the green energy sector is feeling the purse strings tighten in many European countries.
“National governments in the EU are alleged to have created a booming cycle by initially granting strong support for renewables then rapidly rowing back as they feared excessive expenses for subsidies and an increase in the price of electricity for industry”, points out a recent study by researchers from the Politecnico di Milano School of Management, the Università Bocconi, Milan, Italy and the Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
In the paper, titled “Crowdfunding for green projects in Europe: success factors and effects on the local environmental performance and wellbeing”, they analysed the key factors that made a wide sample of crowdfunding campaigns through specialised platforms successful. Moreover, “to our knowledge we are the first to document the positive effect of crowdfunding” on “environmental performance and wellbeing at the local level”, they claim.
