Foundations, ENGOs, Clean-Growth Networks and the Integral State

Abstract

‘Clean-growth’ has been embraced by a professionalized segment of environmentalism as a project that aspires to meet Canada’s international climate commitments while supporting a robust rate of capital accumulation. This study situates clean growth within the network that reaches from Canadian foundations that are major donors, to the clean-growth ENGOs that receive the funds, and to other relevant civil-society, state and capitalist organizations, whose governance boards interlock with those of the foundations or the clean-growth ENGOs. Clean-growth initiatives are embedded within a configuration of facilitative funding and governance relations that include major corporate interests but do not extend to the more critical, transformative segment of Canada’s environmental movement. Funded by foundations and partly governed by corporate executives, clean-growth comprises an aspect of the integral state, working to mobilize popular support and technical expertise for a project of climate (in)action that suits dominant business interests.