Multi-stakeholder climate action partnerships: What do we 'really' know about business partner contributions to partnership goals?

Multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs), which bring together organizations from different sectors to address complex sustainability problems, are promoted as a mechanism for resource mobilization. This resource centered view of MSPs theorizes that partners from the business, government, and non-profit sectors each possess unique capabilities and resources that contribute to partnership performance. At the same time, a more critical scholarship of MSPs highlights the potential trade-offs of partnering with business, particularly in the context of climate change. This chapter responds to these conflicting perspectives by reviewing existing literature on climate action MSPs to establish what is known about business partner contributions. Our review reveals that while existing studies provide insights into why businesses partner for climate action, they do not shed light on the particularities of the inputs provided by these partners nor how such inputs contribute to the goals of MSPs. The implications of our findings and future directions are discussed.