Mapping Change in Local Energy: Community Energy Groups and Their Theory of Change

While social and environmental entrepreneurships have often been studied separately, in this chapter we study entrepreneurs who integrate social and environmental goals. Specifically, we study community enterprises in the local energy sector. Acknowledging the complexity of simultaneously creating social and environmental impact, this chapter uses the Theory of Change (ToC) model to unpack how these community enterprises are aiming to create change. We compare two community enterprises in the local energy sector and observe that their impact trajectory differs as they are differently embedded in their respective communities. This chapter provides avenues for future research, using ToC or other process tools, to get a better understanding of the impact creation process.