Search

The European Union (EU) has committed to becoming a global leader in renewable energy. Reaching this target implies fostering innovation activity to maximize the competitiveness of the European renewable industry. By relying on a case study approach based on a small number of in‐depth interviews with selected stakeholders, this paper illustrates one of the main factors hindering technological development in the renewable energy sector in Europe. More specifically, the paper focuses on the so‐called "valley of death," which traps promising technologies in a "limbo." While ready to be deployed from a technical standpoint, these technologies are not cost competitive and, paradoxically, only their widespread commercialization would allow to drive their cost down. The paper also identifies a mix of policy solutions that can effectively support the competitiveness of the EU renewable energy industry. While more public funding to deploy promising renewable energy technologies is certainly needed, EU policymaker should also improve synergies between EU funding programs at all stages of the research and innovation process. In addition, introducing an EU risk insurance and guarantee fund would ultimately allow to reduce deployment costs and boost commercialization of new technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the effect of financial development and renewable energy consumption on consumption‐based CO2 emissions in Chile while controlling for economic growth and electricity consumption. Based on the aim of the paper, autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds with Kripfganz and Schneider's (2018) approximations, fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS), and gradual shift causality tests are applied in this study. The outcomes clearly reveal that while financial development and renewable energy consumption reduce the consumption‐based CO2 emissions in Chile, economic growth and electricity consumption increase consumption‐based carbon emissions. The gradual shift causality test provides consistent results with ARDL, FMOLS, and DOLS estimators. Therefore, policymakers in Chile should dynamically encourage the research and development of low‐carbon technologies and renewable energy investments while imported nonrenewable energy sources level should be targeted, and especially those sectors which are more energy‐intensive and causing to increase in consumption‐based CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although innovation capabilities are essential to increase companies' success and innovative performance, they are still underexplored regarding sustainability. This paper aims to analyze how Technology Development, Operations, Management, and Transaction innovation capabilities are interrelated with sustainable companies' social, environmental, and economic sustainability. We performed a multi‐case study comprising sustainable small enterprises from four industries: sustainable fashion, sustainable hosting, shared furniture, and renewable energy. From the results, we propose that each innovation capability has three dimensions: social, environmental, and economic. Each dimension has a set of components that can differ across capabilities. We then develop a conceptual scheme, a new theoretical lens that intertwines the literature on innovation capabilities and sustainability. We propose the concepts of Sustainable Technology Development Capability, Sustainable Operations Capability, Sustainable Management Capability, and Sustainable Transaction Capability. Our findings can assist sustainable businesses to improve, and traditional companies to build, sustainable innovation capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper investigates the relationship between the involvement of family firms in R&D collaborations aimed at developing green solutions and the value of resulting innovations. To dig into this relationship, the moderating effects of two proximity dimensions (i.e., geographical distance and technological relatedness) are also assessed. Analyses are based on a sample of 156 joint patents classified into the "Alternative energy production" field, as defined by the International Patent Classification Green Inventory and successfully filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in the period 1997–2010 by publicly listed companies. According to our conjectures, results reveal a positive relationship between the involvement of family firms and green innovation value. Moreover, our findings show that this relationship is hindered when partners are geographically distant or technologically proximate. Eventually, we contribute to the literature on green innovation by unveiling under which conditions inter‐firm R&D collaborations lead to more valuable innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A moral engagement with sustainability enhances consumers' willingness to pay an increased rate for renewable energy when utility firms offer a variety of financial incentives to buy, rent and lease energy solutions to promote the uptake of energy‐efficient technologies. Using structural equation modelling, with data collected from 140 residential energy consumers in Canada, this paper tests and finds evidence that consumers' moral disengagement with environmental concerns negatively influences their willingness to pay more for renewable energy. Furthermore, it is observed that a consumer's perceived sense of control when evaluating energy solutions further accentuates the effects of moral disengagement on willingness to pay. These findings also illuminate the socio‐economic factors that encourage moral engagement concerning renewables. These findings underscore and build upon the claims of the theory of moral self‐regulation. The results and implications guide energy suppliers in potential niche business models to promote the uptake of energy efficient technologies. Similarly, the findings can guide policy‐makers on the cognitive and psychological factors that shape consumers' moral engagement with environmental concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates on how growth and urbanization affect the environment have been intense, but they lack the global perspective. Therefore, this research examined those relationships, and to a greater extent other forms of global environmental degradation, such as foreign direct investment (FDI). It also explored the relationships between industrialization and technologies. The results, using Westerlund cointegration and quantile regressions over the period 1995–2017, show cointegration and regional heterogeneities in the environmental transmissions of economic development, industrialization, renewable energy, urbanization and FDI. The results show that economic development generates more environmental degradation in all quantiles at a global level, whereas urbanization and renewable energy reduce environmental degradation in all quantiles, with the highest effect being in the upper quantiles. On the other hand, industrialization affects the lower quantiles negatively and significantly but affects the upper quantiles positively. Finally, the empirical analysis supports the paradise haven or pollution halo hypothesis (PHH) for the 40th, 50th, 60th and 80th quantiles. This suggests that FDI inflows have a detrimental effect on the host country for these quantiles. Therefore, among the objectives of the policies are to give priority to more sustainable economic growth processes, which contribute to reducing environmental degradation, and furthermore to reinforce strict environmental laws on investment inflows and to build sustainable urbanization and industrialization processes for countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scope of this study is to investigate the main determinants of renewable energy investments in Greece. For this reason, we build an appropriate framework to infer the decision‐making process in the renewable energy sources (RES). The main drivers are then categorized under two groups as economic, and behavioral ones. In the next stage, we rely on binomial (logit and probit) and quantile regression analysis to estimate the impact of these factors on investment decisions towards RES. Our findings indicate that investors who gain better access to knowledge and exhibit a more positive attitude towards the contribution of artificial intelligence (AI) on the RES industry have a higher share of renewables in their portfolio. We argue that these investors are willing to invest a higher amount in the RES industry today. At the same time, quantile regression models illustrate that this relationship is nonmonotonic (i.e., inverted U shaped curve), arguing that positive attitudes towards the contribution of behavioral factors on RES are not adequate to encourage investments after crossing a certain point (threshold). Based on the empirical findings, we argue that the message to policymakers and government officials is to promote a faster penetration of low carbon technologies to achieve sustainable economic and social growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is an increased need to streamline the deployment of sustainable energy projects and high public advocacy for their implementation, projects of this type are often met with public opposition once proposed in a local context. Even although several attempts have been advanced to explain this attitude‐behaviour dissension, these explanations remain partial in how they cover the local opposition issue. There is, in fact, a dearth of research investigating in an integrative way the underlying motivations and/or obstacles for local acceptance. Based on a case study of wind energy using triangulation among a variety of different sources of data from the stakeholders involved, this study aims to uncover how the acceptance of sustainable projects emerges in community contexts. Findings reveal the barriers and motivational factors behind the acceptance of sustainable projects that managers must integrate in their business strategies in the hope of successfully initiating and sustaining behaviour‐change programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]