Prosperity in the fossil free economy cooperatives and the design of sustainable businesses

Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-369) and index.

Introduction: The dream from 2035, looking back on 2020 -- Part 1: Theories, principles, and laws for sustainable enterprises : Our present challenge -- Corporate purpose and governance for a livable planet -- Social enterprise design -- The cooperative difference, private governance, and the law -- Sustainable by design -- Measuring and reporting sustainability -- Part 2: Case studies: Cooperative pathbreakers take climate action and advance sustainable development : Supportive cooperative ecosystems in Spain and the United States -- Renewable energy -- Food and agriculture -- Water -- Finance: Capitalizing the cooperative movement -- Trade -- Findings and lessons for a livable planet -- Appendix: Research methods.

Drawing on both her extensive experience founding and directing social enterprises and her interviews with sustainability leaders, Melissa Scanlan provides a legal blueprint for creating alternate corporate business models that mitigate climate change, pay living wages, and act as responsible community members, including Certified B Corps and benefit corporations. With an emphasis on cooperatives, this book reveals the power and potential of cooperating as a unifying concept around which to design social enterprise achieving triple bottom-line results: for society, the environment, and finance.