Search

There is a broad consensus on the contribution of the so-called eco-innovations to the sustainability transition of economic activity and on the power of policy instruments to redirect innovation towards solving environmental challenges over time. However, despite remarkable academic efforts in this direction, there is a shortage of studies empirically analysing the link between environmental policy and innovation activities. Using firm-level data gathered from the Community Innovation Surveys of two specific years, 2008 and 2014, from eleven European countries, we apply a difference-in-difference approach to provide a clear-cut test of the effects of Phase III of the EU's Emissions Trading System on low-carbon innovations of energy-intensive firms. Our results suggest that environmental policy may affect firms' environmental performance by improving eco-innovating efforts. In fact, the new environmental policy not only induced an adaptive response , in which firms adjust their level of emissions to this new cost scheme, it also induced a creative response , leading companies to move outside of the range of their existing practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-innovation combines economic advantage with lower ecological-resource burdens. Eco-innovation has been generally directed at energy input-substitutes, component recycling, etc. Some companies have made investments reducing resource burdens in the production process. This study investigated options for eco-efficiency improvement in two large manufacturing companies, Volvo and Arla Foods. Their impetus for eco-innovation comes from the companies' environmental policies, as well as from external drivers such as future higher costs and resource scarcity. Relative to their respective industrial sector, these companies represent strong prospects for reducing resource burdens in water-service processes, especially from chemical inputs and wastewater. Such eco-innovations involve more complex interactions beyond the production site, so the options warrant a whole-system comparative assessment. The EcoWater project has analysed the entire water-service value chain through meso-level interactions among heterogeneous actors (process-water users, providers and wastewater treatment companies). The project has developed a methodology to obtain the necessary information, to involve stakeholders in the assessment and to facilitate their discussion on alternative options. Each study stimulated internal company discussions on the need and means to evaluate whole-system effects of investment decisions. Inter-organisational cooperation helped to anticipate how meso-level resource-efficiency relates to lower burdens in wastewater treatment. The assessment method can be extended to any water-service system. By comparing options, the method can facilitate better decisions improving meso-level resource efficiency. As wider implications, some improvement options may complicate 'eco-innovation' as double-eco benefits: win-win for whom, where and what level? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-innovation is an important driving force of high-quality economic development, which can promote economic growth while also ensuring ecological benefits. However, the characteristics of public goods, as well as the dual positive externalities of eco-innovation, lead to its internal reliance on government. Using China's low-carbon city pilot policy as an example, this paper empirically examines the impact of the pilot environmental policy on urban eco-innovation. The results demonstrate that the pilot policies promote urban eco-innovation and a progressive pilot policy promotion model presents an 'experience accumulation effect' in which the effect of the second batch of pilot policies is significantly better than that of the first batch. Dynamic analysis indicates that the eco-innovation effect of the first batch of pilot policies exerts a policy lag. Specifically, the impact of pilot policies on the number of urban green invention patent application lags by approximately 2 years, whereas the impact on the number of patent applications regarding green utility models exhibit a longer lag time. Mediating mechanism analysis reveals that the pilot policy can promote eco-innovation by promoting the agglomeration of innovation factors, including investment and human capital. This paper confirms the eco-innovation effects of a pilot environmental policy model with Chinese characteristics, with significant theoretical implications. The conclusion also offers practical advice to other countries on how to implement progressive environmental governance reforms. • The eco-innovation effect of pilot environmental policy with Chinese characteristics is investigated. • The effect of experience accumulation exists in different period policies. • There is a time lag in the effect of pilot environmental policy. • Factors agglomeration plays a mediating role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]