Greening the North commissioned this paper because it believes, as Co-operative Group Chair Len Wardle recently claimed, that the co-operative and mutual sectors provide a real alternative to capitalism as we know it, ending "a co-operative renaissance awaits us". We hope that this will happen and will use this discussion paper to promote the movement.

Greening the North commissioned this paper because it believes, as Co-operative Group Chair Len Wardle recently claimed, that the co-operative and mutual sectors provide a real alternative to capitalism as we know it, ending "a co-operative renaissance awaits us". We hope that this will happen and will use this discussion paper to promote the movement.