IENGO Partnerships with Corporations: The Case of Greenpeace and Foron

• In Event: Networks and Policy on a Global Scale

Abstract

International environmental non-governmental organizations (IENGOs) advocate, create rules, and shame governments and corporations for better global environmental governance (GEG). Many, however, shun their historic antagonism toward corporations in private-private partnerships (“green alliances”). This includes some of the most prominent IENGOs such as Greenpeace who is known for its hostility towards corporations. These partnerships have not yet been adequately understood by IR scholars. This paper advances the understanding of leading IENGO partnerships with corporations with a focus on IENGO motivations and the effects of such partnerships on IENGOs' agency. I develop a typology of IENGO-corporate partnerships and discuss how different types of partnerships may influence actors’ agency. Using content analysis of archival newspaper data, I analyze a partnership between Foron, a German house appliance manufacturer, and Greenpeace in which the two joined forces to develop the first eco-friendly refrigerator called Greenfreeze and this way influenced the implementation of the Montreal Protocol. I argue that this IENGO-corporate partnership represents a unique type – the innovation partnership- and as such has significant effects on IENGO agency in GEG.

Author

• Lejla Dervesevic, Purdue University