Environmental entrepreneurs are considered to be important drivers for an environmentally sustainable development. As other entrepreneurs, they face survival challenges while operating their businesses. Due to the increased importance of environmental entrepreneurs in counteracting environmental issues we argue that it is necessary to gain an understanding of their specific challenges of survival.

In this thesis, we build theory based on environmental venture cases located in Sweden. We provide an extensive overview of the current literature and contribute by identifying an institutional dimension being of high relevance in this field.

Our findings are of particular interest for policy makers, public institutions, environmental entrepreneurs and their advisors. Additionally, we provide further necessary access to this relatively new research field and suggest future research directions.