Climate stressors impact not only employees, business facilities, and supply chains, but also customers and clients. Resource constrained coastal small businesses are particularly vulnerable to climate crises, as they are faced with additional barriers to resilience. They often do not have the financial buffer or capacity to sift through information to prepare for, respond to, and recover from episodic events (e.g., hurricanes) and chronic stressors (e.g., more frequent sunny-day flooding and rainstorms of ever-increasing intensity).
Not only do small business owners need to be responsive to climate stressors, they are increasingly expected to contribute to a climate-compatible and future-oriented economy. Sustainable business practices are varied, however, and unlike large corporations, small businesses often lack technical expertise, skills, and resources needed to address climate-driven challenges.
How can business owners position themselves as reliable leaders of climate preparedness, confronting multiple interacting climate-related stressors? How can community-scale, climate compatible solutions improve resilience for the small business community? To help answer these research questions, the project team will measure the impact “theory of change” and “social capital” have on a sample of small businesses in Charleston, South Carolina.