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Purpose: The European Ecolabel (EU Flower) has the mission to encourage cleaner production and influence consumers to promote Europe's transition to a circular economy. Nonetheless, little is known about EU Ecolabel evolution; it is not clear what the drivers that encourage its implementation are. Thus, this study aims to assess the growing acceptance of the EU Ecolabel in the European Union, and Spain more specifically, by examining product and service categories and geographical regions. Methods: The methodological approach taken in this study is a mixed methodology based on the triangulation method by consulting the EU Ecolabel scheme database, EU Ecolabel delegates from some autonomous regions, and the academic literature. Also, a geographic analysis was run in the ArcGIS Software with data about the accumulation of licenses assigned in 2016. Results and discussion: The analysis shows that most products in Spain that have been awarded the EU Ecolabel belong to the following categories: Do-It-Yourself Products (paint and varnish), Paper Products, Cleaning Up Products, and Electronic Equipment. At the same time, the study showed that this ecolabel faces significant obstacles in its diffusion, such as the competition with environmental labels launched previously in Europe and other regional labels. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate the existence of five drivers that may encourage the implementation of EU Flower in a region: (1) public management, (2) communication strategy, (3) sustainable public procurement criteria, (4) local income per capita, and (5) international trade incentives. Finally, this study provides essential recommendations for policymakers to trigger ecolabeling practices such as the need to improve the understanding of the EU ecolabel impact in different levels of activity, which means countries, regions, industrial clusters, firms, and consumers. Also, this investigation identifies areas for further research, and it expresses the need to develop business case studies about ecolabeling with the objective to visualize this phenomenon as an eco-innovation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development has received more attention in recent years due to growing ecological and environmental concerns. Thus, eco-innovation becomes a topic of increasing interest and generates a large amount of publications. This paper uses extensive data from Web of Science and Scopus to examine the evolution of eco-innovation research and also uses meta-analysis to delve deeper into the determinants. The findings reveal that (1) the number of publications has increased steadily over three stages—slow budding, steady development, and rapid growth—with an overall average growth rate of 16.0%; (2) increasing countries/regions are studying eco-innovation, primarily in developed countries, but the contribution from developing countries is also growing; (3) the most published journals are Journal of Cleaner Production, Sustainability, Business Strategy and the Environment, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, and Ecological Economics; (4) keyword analysis reveals determinants of eco-innovation is a long-term hot topic; (5) meta-analysis concludes that innovation capability and environmental regulations can significantly affect eco-innovation; and (6) high economic development level can effectively enhance eco-innovation by improving R&D, knowledge, and innovation capability. Compared to large firms, eco-innovation by small and medium-sized firms is more influenced by cooperation and government. This paper suggests the government should construct more financial institutions to relieve firms' investment pressures, as well as a property right protection mechanism and corresponding innovative knowledge reward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been a surge in interest in eco-innovation among SMEs. So, there is a need to gain a better understanding of the most recent advances in academic research as well as recent practical organizational efforts. This was accomplished through a systematic review of the eco-innovation literature pertaining to small and medium businesses (published between 2002 and 2020). To conduct this systematic literature review, we used data from one of the most comprehensive databases, the Scopus database. This study analyzed 80 articles from a total of 205 articles. The data selected for this paper is guided by the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) flow diagrams. This paper provides a descriptive overview of a selected article in the field of eco-innovation, analyzing the growth trend of published articles, popular methodologies used, most productive regions, top journals, and industries in which eco-innovation is studied mostly. This study also identifies the key research areas in the body of literature, classifying the main factors influencing and impeding the adoption of eco-innovations, the prevailing theories, as well as the effects and outcomes of eco-innovation adoption in SMEs. The findings of this study provide crucial information on eco-innovation for academicians and professionals, enabling them to advance the research agenda in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether women's attitudes toward environmental innovation are impacted by their individual differences in skills, expertise, experience, and technical knowledge, as well as their visibility and legitimacy on boards. Using the categorization of directors developed by Hillman et al (J Manag Stud 37(2):235–256, 2000) and a dataset including the largest non-financial Spanish-listed entities reported on the IBEX-35 between 2015 and 2019, we can confirm the influence of female business expert and support specialist directors on environmental innovation. We find that although female business expert directors seem to positively influence environmental innovation even below a critical mass, female support specialist directors are only significant and positive drivers of eco-initiation when they gain power and authority on the board. This study confirms the need to examine the connection between women directors and eco-innovation based not only on their expertise and experience but also on their position and legitimacy on the board. In this regard, our results provide evidence that female support specialists need to have a large enough representation on boards to be effective in developing green initiatives. Our results are robust to alternative measures of green innovation (i.e., environmental performance) and overcome endogeneity concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, environmental degradation has gained considerable momentum. Researchers worldwide have focused on pollution because of its impact on billions of people. With the growing demand for fossil fuels on developing markets, little global consensus has been reached about reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions. Past literature suggests that international trade has positive socio-economic results, yet experts consider the scarcity of natural resources and environmental degradation caused by international trade. But empirical studies are not available on the links between energy productivity and carbon dioxide based on consumption in the environmental economic literature. The aim of this paper is to fill this knowledge gap by analyzing the impact on CO2 emissions for the G7 countries between 1990 and 2018 of international trade (imports and exports), eco-innovation, energy production, and renewable energy consumption by exports, imports, eco-innovation, GDP, renewable energy consumption, and energy productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although energy is a necessary component of production and hence a contaminant, the environmental effect varies depending on the type of energy used. Renewable sources of energy can provide ecological advantages, particularly when contrasted with fossil fuels, which emit high levels of CO2 emissions. Thus, the research explores the impact of eco-innovation (ECO), green energy (REC), and globalization (GLOB) on the ecological footprint (ECF) in the BRICS nations using the panel nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (PNARDL) technique between 1990 and 2018. The empirical results indicate that there is cointegration in the model. The results from the PNARDL show that a positive shift in renewable energy, eco-innovation, and globalization decreases the ecological footprint, while positive (negative) shifts in non-renewable energy and economic growth intensify the ecological footprint. The paper suggests several policy recommendations based on these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturers and electricity companies can play a vital role in sustainable development through eco-innovation implementation and renewable electricity generation. Investigating electricity suppliers' and product manufacturers' decisions is essential to illustrate the evolution of their behavior. This paper establishes a two-population evolutionary game, focusing on the strategies of electricity suppliers and manufacturers. We consider two strategies for the electricity suppliers: (1) renewable electricity generation along with non-renewable electricity and (2) non-renewable electricity generation, and two strategies for manufacturers: (1) eco-innovation implementation and (2) Non-eco-innovation implementation. Also, pricing decisions for products and renewable electricity and determining the level of eco-innovation are investigated in this research. The results demonstrate that suppliers' evolutionary behavior leads to renewable electricity generation, and manufacturers' behavior drives eco-innovation implementation under the government's support. Also, the results indicate that the entire population of electricity suppliers shift toward their sustainable strategy, i.e., renewable electricity generation, in a shorter time than manufacturers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms' collaborative activities have created increasing opportunities for eco-innovation in modern society. Based on unbalanced panel data from the Chinese National Innovation Survey between 2011 and 2015, this paper explored the influences of different modes of cooperation, i.e., vertical cooperation, horizontal cooperation, and mixed cooperation, on the eco-innovation of Chinese manufacturing firms. The results indicated that three types of cooperation all had positive and statistically significant effects on the firms' eco-innovation, and mixed cooperation had promoted eco-innovation more dramatically. The extent of such impacts may vary depending on the heterogeneity of the characteristic of enterprises. We also verified that knowledge spillovers from cooperative partners have played a mediating role between cooperation and eco-innovation. Our results suggest the potential benefits of diversified collaborative activities and appropriate intellectual property protection for firms' eco-innovation in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the research of SMEs' eco-innovation (EI) has gained attention on an international scale. However, only a few studies provide a global research panorama. This study attempts to bridge this knowledge gap by utilizing the scientometric tools. A total of 749 articles from ISI web of science core collection were collected and analyzed to generate the result, which demonstrated a wealth of useful new conclusions in this domain. The results show that (i) the research topics on SMEs' EI are changing dynamically and become more diversified from 1997 to 2021, especially from 2014 to 2021. (ii) The newest research frontiers are logically consistent with the previous knowledge base, while reflect the novelty of the research, which shows more correlation and adaptation to the newest development situation. (iii) The innovation paradigm in this field has not yet formed, and correlational studies are still in the early stage and a paradigm of open innovation is strongly recommended for researchers. And the barriers, category, process, outcome, and more similar subdivided themes of SMEs' EI are worthy to be further explored. For research methods, inter-regional, inter-institutional, and interdisciplinary perspectives are hopeful to contribute to future research avenues. Some useful inspirations are also provided for practitioners to develop SMEs' EI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation is an imperative way of harmonizing the relationship between environmental protection and economic growth. Reasonably creating institutional pressure to stimulate the innovation vitality of enterprises is a crucial issue in promoting the modernization of ecological environment governance systems and governance capacity. This paper considered China's new environmental protection law (NEPL) as a quasi-natural experiment to evaluate the impact of environmental regulation on enterprise eco-innovation in a difference-in-difference (DID) framework. It also identifies the conditions of the NEPL that encourage enterprise eco-innovation. We found that the NEPL significantly hinders the level of enterprise eco-innovation. This inhibition is mainly associated with invention patents with high degrees of innovation rather than utility model patents, resulting from tightening financing constraints. Further, when considering enterprise heterogeneity in terms of ownership, size, and cost transfer ability, private and small-sized enterprises and enterprises with higher cost transfer ability are more affected by the implementation of the NEPL. Furthermore, enterprises with a better business environment are more likely to perform innovation activities. Our findings have valuable implications for evaluating the effects of policy implementation more scientifically and comprehensively, and consequently, promoting the "innovation compensation effect" of environmental regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanotechnology offers a rare opportunity to study the early evolution of a new generic technology in real time. This paper suggests focusing more on the market formation side, rather than technology generation, when seeking to explain technology evolution. Applying an evolutionary capabilities perspective, the paper examines how firms organize innovation in the early embryonic stages of a technology and how the market as a selective device undergoes qualitative change as part of economic evolution. The traditional Danish window chain is used as a case. A model of nanotechnology evolution is proposed which suggests that nanotechnology commercialization is significantly driven by small and medium-sized firms based on their internal knowhow, with larger firms as important suppliers of know how. These smaller firms are adept at addressing social needs which appear to be key factors in the nano-commercialization process. A taxonomy of nine enterprise strategies for entry into nanotechnology is suggested. The paper identifies a marked shift in marketing strategizing among the nanotechnology innovative companies, from being 'loud' around the turn of the millennium to becoming increasingly 'silent' at the present time, illustrating the unconsolidated stage of the current nanotechnology market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the relationship between environmental regulation and eco-innovation. The relationship is tested using a German firm-based panel and a dynamic count data model estimating the propensity of firms to innovate in response to five initiating factors, namely the fulfillment of existing legal requirements, expectations towards future legal requirements, financial incentives, demand for eco-innovations and self-commitment. The heterogeneity of firms is controlled for using R&D intensity, the size, the sector and the region of the company. The results answer the central question concerning the design of environmental policies in order to foster eco-innovation. Comparing a static model to a dynamic one shows that only long term objectives and market incentives are positively associated with eco-innovation. Conventional regulatory tools, namely legally binding instruments, are not effective for triggering innovative behavior at the firm level. The results do not allow to confirm the Porter hypothesis but rather offer a refined version, emphasizing the nuances that apply to the concept of “regulation”. The claim is that what matters is not the type of the policy instrument but rather the perception of the instrument by firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The French network Eco-design of Sustainable Systems (EcoSD) has initiated collaborative research projects in order to foster collaborations between academic and industrial partners. Two projects concerning eco-innovation processes, methods and tools have been carried out between 2012 and 2014. This paper first offers a synthesis of the projects, and questions the new directions to feed research in eco-innovation for the forthcoming years. The first project concerned the perception of eco-innovation by companies. It aimed at defining the features and goals of eco-innovation compared to eco-design through a survey with 12 French industrial partners. Results confirm that eco-innovation still is an emerging topic and does not seem to be supported by any structured process. The second project made a focus on the stage of eco-evaluation and eco-selection of the most promising ideas. In order to understand the emergence of ideas with a high environmental potential, three groups of mixed academics and industrials were asked to test two methods involving mapping, selection, combination and environmental evaluation of ideas. Main results show that there is a large inter-group variability in the evaluation of the environmental potential of ideas. Lastly, three interlinked directions for research in eco-innovation are identified. The first direction deals with the eco-ideation phase, where appropriate stimulation mechanisms should be integrated to. The second direction deals with the environmental evaluation of ideas very early in the process. It is necessary to characterize the inputs and outputs from this phase, building a bridge towards a latter simplified environmental assessment. The last direction deals with the construction of an efficient eco-innovation process based on the two previous phases. The challenge is to reduce the gap between academia and industry, enabling companies to introduce an eco-innovation process into their current design process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of eco-innovation, i.e., innovations aimed at improving firms' environmental performances, and environmental policy stringency on firms' growth processes, with a special focus on gazelles, i.e., firms that show higher than average growth rates. In a context shaped by more and more stringent environmental regulatory frameworks, we posit that inducement mechanisms and the regulatory push/pull effect expand the derived demand for eco-innovations suppliers. For these reasons, we expect a positive association between the generation of EIs and sales growth, which is magnified by increasing policy stringency. The empirical analysis is based on firm-level data drawn from the Bureau van Dijk Database, coupled with patent information obtained from OECD Science and Technology Indicators. The results confirm that eco-innovations are likely to augment the effects of generic innovation on firm growth, and this is particularly true for gazelles. Policy stringency is important in moderating the effects of eco-innovation on growth for gazelles, but even more so for slow-growing firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supporting ecological innovations and economic activities which lead to environmental protection is one of the important challenges to decision-makers. The above is related to the problem of specification of mechanisms resulting in introducing ecological innovations to the economy. The original vision of the economic evolution determined by innovation was firstly presented by Joseph Schumpeter who identified essential innovative changes as well as indicated different mechanisms governing the economic evolution. The aim of the paper is to suggest a cohesive topological approach maintained in the stream of Schumpeter's thought, to study changes in the economy, which result in the elimination of at least one harmful commodity or technology from the market, by incorporating Hurwicz apparatus in a suitably modified competitive economy. Qualitative properties of mechanisms which can occur within the economic evolution are also analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper outlines guidelines and pillars of a resource policy. Two reasons favour the formulation of such policy: a demand to increase sluggish resource productivity growth as well as environmental damages occurring along material flows at an international scale. Thus, it is both the innovation and environmental perspective that legitimate policies. The paper surveys recent empirical trends. Referring to research on innovation and transition management, it develops guidelines for a resource policy, namely, market order, provision function, learning processes, market development, and orientation. It furthermore describes four instruments as potential pillars of a future policy mix: a tax on construction minerals, an ecologically differentiated VAT tax, and an international covenant for metals and an international convention for sustainable resource management. The paper finally reflects these guidelines and pillars against weaknesses and ongoing discussions of climate policy. It concludes that despite all uncertainties and complexities, a well-designed resource policy is on the verge of becoming essential for unleashing eco-innovation dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-innovation has become an essential driver of business to alleviate environmental problems and achieve sustainable growth. Due to increasing environmental concerns, many countries have enacted regulations so that businesses minimize their harmful environmental impacts. This paper investigates the linkages between eco-innovation strategy, governmental environmental regulations, and enterprises' sustainable growth considering the moderation effect of managerial environmental concern. A mediation-moderation model is proposed to test the direct and indirect effects. We harness partial least squares path modelling to examine how eco-innovation affects sustainable business growth in the Tunisian agricultural and agri-food sectors. The findings reveal that (1) management environmental concerns and government environmental regulations have a positive impact on eco-innovation strategies; (2) eco-innovation strategies significantly mediate the relationship between government environmental regulations and enterprises' sustainable business growth; and (3) managerial environmental concern has a significant moderating effect on the mediation model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to analyze the capacity of the small entrepreneur to innovate and especially eco-innovations. The entrepreneur is a social agent embedded in a given territory and a local community (work, family, school, and so on) from which he is identified by three types of resources: knowledge, financial, and social resources; we will define more analytically their role in this text and, especially, the key role of knowledge and social resources (informal social network). We interviewed 50 small entrepreneurs in the town of Dunkirk, a "heavy industrial area in crisis", located in the North of France, to identify which resources (in knowledge, financial, and social resources) they are using to develop eco-innovations (new products and technologies). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since globalization has increased both production and population, it has also increased environmental damage. This is why the development of renewable energy sources is crucial to the survival of humanity and the planet itself. Business patterns across the various nations, however, have changed significantly over time. This study examines how environmental taxes and renewable energy electricity affect renewable energy consumption in emerging seven economies by using panel dataset over the period of 1990 to 2020. Control variables include economic growth, carbon emissions, and environmental innovation. The results confirmed the presence of the long-run co-integration association, the existence of slope coefficient heterogeneity, and the dependency of cross sections using several panel data methods. Since the data was not normally distributed, a new technique known as method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) was applied in this study. The projected results contend that the major factors of renewable energy consumption are renewable energy output, environmental taxation, economic growth, and carbon emissions. However, eco-friendly innovations drastically cut back on the need for renewable energy. Bootstrap quantile regression verifies the results' reliability, and the panel Granger causality test corroborates that the listed factors have a bidirectional causal relationship with renewable energy usage. Furthermore, this research recommends boosting spending on renewable electricity, the environmental tax sector, and ecological innovation in order to expand the use of renewable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking a socially proactive stance that aligns with their economic imperatives has led multinational corporations (MNCs) to focus on social innovation that tackles environmental challenges (or eco-innovation hereafter). Their knowledge of eco-innovation is important to emerging markets that are facing severe environmental challenges and to emerging market firms (EMFs) whose eco-innovation activities face resource and knowledge constraints. MNCs, through their foreign direct investment (FDI) activities in host emerging markets, can divulge economic, knowledge and environmental values of eco-innovation, helping EMFs to improve their eco-innovation through knowledge spillover channels. Taking the value-based approach, we draw on the eco-innovation research and the MNC/FDI spillovers literature to develop hypotheses on the relationship between regional knowledge spillovers of MNCs and the eco-innovation of EMFs in a multi-dimensional task environment characterized by munificence, complexity and dynamism. Our empirical examination is based on a sample of Chinese manufacturing firms from 2003 to 2013. We find support for hypotheses that regional knowledge spillovers of MNCs enhance the positive effects of munificence and mitigate the negative effects of complexity and dynamism on the eco-innovation of EMFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we aimed that influences of eco-determinants and innovation strategies on sustainability performance of SMEs were evaluated in line. Data were collected through a questionnaire-based survey across 152 SMEs from manufacturing industry in Kocaeli known as one of the most industrialized city of Turkey. The empirical model was analyzed by PLS-SEM using Smart-PLS program to verify the hypothetical relationships of the study. In accordance with the derived model, the effects of EI determinants and EI strategies on the sustainable performance (environmental, economic, and social) of SMEs were examined by making use of the second-order PLS-SEM. The results of this study indicate that eco-determinants (technology, market, regulations, and firm-specific factors) of companies had a positive and direct impact on sustainability performance of SMEs, and eco-innovation strategy has a direct impact on sustainability performance and mediating impact between eco-innovation determinants and sustainability performance [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmentally relevant market failure, related to the lack of value attached to environmentally beneficial economic activity, constrains environmental entrepreneurship as reported by Dean and McMullen (Journal of Business Venturing, 22, 50-76, 2007). Unless this market failure is addressed, green start-ups will be confined to a "green prison" as stated in Pacheco et al. (Sustainable Development and Entrepreneurship, 25, 464-480, 2010), unable to grow and disseminate their eco-innovations out with environmental niche markets. In Britain, France and Germany, support mechanisms promote the expansion of renewable power technologies. This paper examines environmental entrepreneurs' perceptions of the importance and effectiveness of support mechanisms in removing environmental market failure in the energy sectors of these three countries. Our findings suggest that these support mechanisms are perceived by entrepreneurs as having provided a crucial pecuniary motivation among consumers to adopt eco-innovation, creating greater market certainty for green start-ups. However, when these support mechanisms are reformed, aiming at greater market integration for eco-innovation, green start-ups find this transition from protection to more market exposure as challenging and more suited for incumbent firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What does it make some sports such as off-road motorcycle to be perceived as non-environmentally-friendly? Are the activities themselves or the actual and/or traditional way of their fulfillment? How is it possible to make them more environmentally sustainable without giving up the fun? This paper aims to give an answer to these questions, analyzing the case of off-road motorcycling. It is clear that some of negative consequences of such sport are due to the bad behavior and scarce ecological awareness of its practitioners, while it is often neglected that other aspects are related to the present characteristics of its means: the motorcycles. The present work, starting with the analyses of the environmental damages related to this sport, tries to give an answer focusing on the technical aspects of actual motorcycles that can be related to such damages. In particular, the authors propose the application of an integrated eco-innovation and technical contaminated approach for the design and development of a new concept of off-road motorcycle to meet the requirements of low environmental impact and light weight of the vehicle, while maintaining the pleasure of riding in the nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern consumption patterns lead to massive waste, which poses challenges in storage and highlights the urgent need for more sustainable product development. Customer feedback on products plays a crucial role in product design, yet previous studies overlooked these invaluable insights. In response, this study introduces a novel systematic methodology that integrates the strengths of text mining, Quality Function Deployment (QFD), and the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ). Text mining techniques are utilized to extract customer requirements from online platforms, while QFD is used to translate these requirements into technical specifications. By integrating the contradiction matrix from TRIZ theory with the triptych, technical conflicts are resolved. The design process for next-generation smart glasses is employed as an illustrative case to validate the proposed integrated innovation design approach. Analytical outcomes suggest that the introduced methodology can effectively address sustainable product design challenges and sets the stage for future advancements in smart glasses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world has acknowledged the importance of natural resources to compensate for energy requirements for sustainable development. Green Energy (GE) and Eco-innovations have the potential to improve air quality by reducing CO2 emissions and ensuring sustainable development, which the available literature has neglected. Therefore, we investigate the dynamic impact of green energy and environmental innovations on the USA's economic growth and CO2 emissions. We applied the quantile-on-quantile (QARDL) approach from 1990 to 2019. Our findings indicate that GE consumption mitigates CO2 emissions by increasing economic growth in different quantiles in the USA. Furthermore, Eco-innovations also contribute to economic growth by reducing CO2 emissions in different quantiles. Additionally, Bi-directional quantile causality was found between green energy consumption, economic growth, and CO2 emissions. Thus, the empirical results of the current study provide acumens for policymakers of the USA to consume green energy and use green technology and environmental innovations to counterbalance the environmental issues induced by CO2 emissions without halting economic growth and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the impact of firms' decision-making, crisis management, and risk-taking behaviors on their sustainability and circular economy behaviors through the mediating role of their eco-innovation behavior in the energy industry in Iraq. Firms are exploring applicable mechanisms to increase green practices. This requires the industry to possess the essential skills to overcome the challenges that reduce sustainable activities. We applied a dual-stage structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach to explore the linear relationships between variables, determine the weight of the criteria, and rank energy companies based on a circular economy. The online questionnaire was sent to 549 managers and heads of departments of Iraqi electric power companies. Out of these, 384 questionnaires were collected. The results indicate that firms' crisis management, decision-making, and risk-taking behaviors are significantly and positively linked to their eco-innovation behavior. This study confirms the significant and positive impact of firms' eco-innovation behavior on their sustainability and circular economy behaviors. Likewise, eco-innovation behavior has a fully mediating role. For the MCDM methods, ranking energy companies according to the circular economy can support policymakers' decisions to renew contracts with leading companies in the ranking. Practitioners can also impose government regulations on low-ranked companies. Thus, governments can reduce the problems of greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are various dynamics in the emergence of eco-innovation applications in businesses. It has been determined that a significant part of the literature on determining these dynamics is directed to developed countries. Unlike other studies, this study aims to determine the eco-innovation dynamics in terms of a developing country and contribute to the literature. Determining the dynamics that create eco-innovation within the framework of manufacturing enterprises has considered economic growth theory, natural resource–based theory, and the Porter hypothesis. The questionnaire was administered to the first 500 manufacturing companies in Turkey. According to the path analysis, dynamics that significantly trigger eco-innovation practices have been determined. Eco-innovation is considered a solution to overcoming sustainability and environmental crisis challenges. Therefore, eco-innovation adoption depends on explaining clearly the dynamics at every economic level. In this respect, this study guides decision-makers who want to create environmental benefits by spreading eco-innovation practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to the growing complexity of environmental consequences of manufacturing firms' traditional internal operations, there is an urgent call for firms' eco-innovation performance. However, manufacturing firms lack a full understanding of what effective strategies and mechanisms could deliver eco-innovative solutions optimally. Through the organizational and institutional theories, we develop a conceptual model on the effect of innovation capacity, firms learning capacities, regulatory quality, and rule of law on eco-innovation performance. We adopted the cross-sectional survey design to sample data from 479 respondents of 15 manufacturing firms in Porto-Norvo, Cotonou, and Bohicon cities of Benin. The results indicate that firms' innovation and learning capacities have a positive impact on eco-innovation. We also found that regulatory quality and rule of law had no positive significant moderating effect on the relationship between firms' learning capacity and eco-innovation. However, rule of law was negative but significantly moderated the relationship. Our study emphasizes the effect of innovation capacity on firms' learning capacity and how firms' learning capacity influences eco-innovation. We also emphasize how rule of law indirectly contribute to eco-innovation performance. This theoretical and empirical analysis has received little attention in the eco-innovation literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely accepted that eco-innovation is the direction to make progress towards a sustainable innovation. Public and private actors seem to share a common point of view and agreement on the benefits of implementing eco-innovation. If this is the case, why eco-innovative activities are still exceptional and exemplary instead of being the usual reasoning and inspiring driver for all kind of actions? Going in depth into the reasons why eco-innovation techniques are not broadly spread, the main one is the lack of internalization of this attitude in all the everyday actions taken by companies and employees in the form of social responsibility. Definitively, society as a whole is responsible for the eco-innovation promotion. Large companies have long ago incorporated Social Responsibility into their strategic planning and invest on innovation as a competitive advantage. However, they are reluctant to contribute to the eco-innovation. Therefore, universities and technology centers (TCs) have to play this role and link the private sector, specially medium, and small size companies, with the society needs. However, Universities are not often leading the eco-innovation initiative. Currently, in the case of Spain, it is observed a huge gap between the scientific research efforts made by the Public University and the academic offering and the real needs of the private companies. In fact, mixed structures as TCs are needed in order to overcome this disconnection, increasing opportunities for subsequent cooperation in eco-innovation projects. This paper points out the causes of the Spanish R&D and innovation lag, and highlights the reasons of the disconnection between public and private research for innovation, while giving hints on what is working fine and what needs to be reviewed to catch up with the R&D reference countries in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of a circular economy (CE) has become popular and important issue in environmental management in recent years; however, there are not particular indicators dedicated to it in regional policy. CE approach is an industrial system that is restorative by design, and it emphasises that it is important that, rather than extracting natural resources, the materials that have already been taken can and should be recovered and reused in different ways, thereby securing natural resources from over-exploitation. In order to meet CE assumptions, modern and innovative technologies that allow for the recovery of valuable materials should be developed. This also applies to eco-innovation that connects technology development with environmental aspects. It is therefore obvious that issues of CE and eco-innovation are linked, and a uniform methodology aimed at compare the levels of moving to CE including eco-innovation solutions should be established. Because the focus in European Union (EU) has been paid on regions, measuring of CE-eco-innovations levels is especially important at the regional level. In this paper, the proposals of CE indicators, based on eco-innovation factors, which can be possible to create based on existing data set (Eurostat, Cohesion policy) are presented. It is recommend to use of five group indicators for measuring regional CE-eco-innovation. Based on Eco-Innovation Scoreboard which describes innovation measurement, three of proposed indicator groups are associated directly with innovations, taking into account the principles of CE: CE-eco-innovation inputs, CE-eco-innovation activities and CE-eco-innovation outputs, and other two groups of indicators are effects of the CE-eco-innovation introduction: resource efficiency outcomes and socio-economic outcomes. This way of measuring CE-eco-innovation allows for create holistic, systematic and integrated approach for the CE concept at the regional level. Proposed indicators can be used in current transition stage for assessment of implementation regional policy and as a base for creation final CE indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines key aspects in the innovative behavior of the construction firms that determine their environmental orientation while innovating. Structural equation modeling was used and data of 222 firms retrieved from the Spanish Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC) for 2010 to analyse the drivers of environmental orientation of the construction firms during the innovation process. The results show that the environmental orientation is positively affected by the product and process orientation of construction firms during the innovation process. Furthermore, the positive relation between the importance of market information sources and environmental orientation, mediated by process and product orientation, is discussed. Finally, a model that explains these relations is proposed and validated. Results have important managerial implications for those companies worried about their eco-innovative focus as the types of actions and relations within firms most suitable for improving their eco-innovative orientation are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-innovation is an explicit aim of major EU policy strategies. Many environmental policies de facto require firms to eco-innovate to comply with policy requirements, while the overlap between policy-driven and market-driven eco-innovation strategies is increasingly important for many firms. Barriers to eco-innovation can then emerge as a critical factor in either preventing or stimulating EU strategies, policy implementation, and the green strategies of firms. In this paper we focus on EU-27 SMEs. We single out and explore different firm profiles, considering eco-innovation barriers and engagement. Our analysis is based on a particularly suitable dataset: the Eurobarometer survey on 'Attitudes of European entrepreneurs towards eco-innovation'. We identify six clusters of SMEs. These clusters include firms facing either 'Revealed barriers' or 'Deterring barriers', 'Cost deterred' firms, 'Market deterred' firms, 'Non eco-innovators', and 'Green champions'. The clusters display substantial differences in terms of eco-innovation adoption. We show that our taxonomy has little overlap with sector classifications. This diversity should be taken into account for successful environmental and innovation policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are warning signs for impending scarcity of certain technology metals that play a critical role in high-tech products. The scarce elements are indispensable for the design of modern technologies with superior performance. Material scarcity can restrain future innovations and presents therefore a serious risk that must be counteracted. However, the risk is often underrated in the pursuit of technological progress. Many innovators seem to be inattentive to the limitations in availability of critical resources and the possible implications thereof. The present shortages in industrial supply with technology metals may be interpreted as a wake-up call for technology developers to tackle the issue with due consideration. The article reviews the materials scarcity phenomenon from the viewpoint of sustainable development ethics. The following questions are discussed: 'Should preventative actions be taken today in order to mitigate resource scarcity in future?' and 'Should technology developers feel responsible to do this?' The discussion presents arguments for industrial designers and engineers to create a sense of responsibility for the proactive mitigation of material scarcity. Being protagonists of the innovation system, they have the opportunity to lead change towards resource-aware technology development. The paper concludes by outlining ideas on how they can pioneer sustainable management of critical materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing scientific evidence that natural systems are now at a level of stress globally that could have profound negative effects on human societies worldwide. In order to avoid these effects, one, or a number of technological transitions will need to take place through transforming processes of eco-innovation, which have complex political, institutional and cultural, in addition to technological and economic, dimensions. Measurement systems need to be devised that can assess to what extent eco-innovation is taking place. Environmental and eco-innovation have already led in a number of European countries to the establishment of substantial eco-industries, but, because of the general absence of environmental considerations in markets, these industries are very largely the result of environmental public policies, the nature and effectiveness of which have now been assessed through a number of reviews and case studies. The paper concludes that such policies will need to become much more stringent if eco-innovation is to drive an adequately far-reaching technological transition to resolve pressing environmental challenges. Crucial in the political economy of this change will be that eco-industries, supported by public opinion, are able to counter the resistance of established industries which will lose out from the transition, in a reformed global context where international treaties and co-operation prevent the relocation of environmentally destructive industries and encourage their transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last two decades, environmental degradation has been a topic of concern. The rising level of CO2 emissions (CO2E) has adversely affected life in the E7 countries, which comprise of Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, and Turkey. The increased in CO2E is the cause of rising sea levels in the E7 countries. Visibly, E7 nations which are considered as the largest emitters of CO2 are facing the most severe environmental challenges. This study investigates the impact of eco-innovation, economic growth (EG), renewable energy consumption (REC), economic risk (ERI), and globalization on the CO2E, using the Feasible Generalized Lease Squares (FGLS) and Panel Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE) techniques for the period 1995 to 2018. The results indicate an inverted N-shaped relationship between eco-innovation and CO2E. Also, eco-innovation, REC, and economic risk are observed to be significant factors in abating CO2 emissions. On the contrary, globalization and GDP are responsible for rising CO2E in E7 countries. According to empirical estimates, eco-innovation improves the efficiency of carbon emissions, which lowers CO2E. In addition, because they are immune to changes in the price of oil and gas and disruptions brought about by geopolitical events, renewable energy sources can offer countries a more secure energy source than fossil fuels. Alternative energy sources can reasonably cut CO2E while offering a more reliable and secure energy source. Therefore, it is crucial that policies be put in place to cut CO2E by giving priority to environmental innovative policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To develop innovation, firms make several decisions on the allocation of resources to specific innovation activities. Important innovation decisions include among others the decision to collaborate with other partners for innovation activities and the decision to engage in complex R&D projects such as projects with environmental benefits. Although there are very few empirical works that examine these two decisions together, while supporting that R&D collaborations are more important for the development of environmental innovations than for conventional innovations, an empirical work that examines the joint impact of these two decisions on corporate innovation efficiency is still lacking. This study aims to fulfill this gap by making one of the first attempts to employ a new dataset based on the Greek Community Innovation Survey (CIS), conducted for the years of 2012–2014 analyzing 2456 companies. Econometric results indicate that firm's decision to eco-innovate exerts a positive influence on firms' innovation efficiency directly. On the contrary, regarding the decision to engage in R&D collaborations, econometric results indicate that there is not a direct or an indirect, via eco-innovation, impact on innovation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental sustainability is an umbrella approach depending on various climatic and economic policies. In doing so, the current study empirically evaluates the role of green finance, eco-innovation, and environmental policy stringency on the ecological footprint in China. To meet the objectives, the novel quantile autoregressive distributed lag (QARDL) approach was employed from 2000 to 2017. The outcomes reveal heterogeneous associations between the proposed variables. Manifestly, the QARDL estimation results demonstrate a positive impact between eco-innovation, green finance, and environmental policy stringency with the ecological footprints of China; however, the extent of the relationship is quantile dependent. The outcomes are further validated through the Wald test of parameter constancy. The bi-direction causality is observed among all variables at several quantiles. The current study offers policymakers helpful suggestions on enhancing the positive effects of environmentally supported innovation, green finance, and stringent environmental policies on the ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining ecological quality of energy use without compromising on economic growth has become the key research agenda of existing literature. Emerging economies are particularly facing this dual problem where they need to look in to the factors which impact sustainable energy consumption. The article, thus, aims to examine impact of economic and non-economic determinants on sustainable energy consumption in Vietnamese context. Factors such as industrialization, population growth, inflation, and employment rate are being considered as economic indicators and eco-innovation and political instability are being used as non-economic indicators. The study has taken secondary data from secondary sources such as Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the global economy, and World Development Indicators (WDI) from 1986 to 2020. The study has applied the Bayesian auto-regressive distributed lags (BARDL) model and the non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) technique to check the association among variables. The results revealed that industrialization, population growth, inflation, employment rate, and eco-innovation have a positive linkage with SEC in Vietnam. The results also indicated that political instability has a negative association with SEC in Vietnam. In the light of results, it is obvious that government fiscal and monetary policies must be favorable to inflation so that sustainable energy can be introduced and started to consume. The study also conveys that the policymakers must take care of employment rate growth, for it can encourage sustaining energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on upper echelons theory, feminist caring theory, and social role theory, we analyzed the intrinsic relationship between female officials and local eco-innovation and the moderating role of public pressure. A panel data set of 281 cities in China from 2003 to 2017 was selected as the research sample. The results showed that female municipal secretaries had a positive effect on incremental eco-innovation; female mayors had a positive effect on both radical and incremental eco-innovation; and the impact of female officials on eco-innovation varied across regions. Based on these findings, we propose that local governments should strengthen the evaluation system for officials, increase the participation rate of female officials in politics, and broaden the path of environmental monitoring for the general public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fossil fuels are causing irreparable damage to the environment and lead to the depletion of reservoirs of coal, oil, and gas, which may give rise to the issue of energy scarcity and security. Therefore, policymakers and empirics have looked for alternative sources of energy that are affordable, reliable, and clean sources of energy. Consistent with this view, we have tried to examine the impact of eco-innovation and financial inclusion on renewable energy development in China. In order to empirically investigate, we have applied the autoregressive distributive lag model. The long-run estimates of eco-innovations are statistically significant and positive models, confirming that environmental-related innovations help increase the production of different renewable energy. Similarly, the long-run estimates of financial inclusion are positively significant, implying that an increase in financial inclusiveness intensifies the production of solar, biomass, and renewable energy in China. Generally, our findings imply that both eco-innovations and financial inclusion help increase renewable energy production in China in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few decades, environmental deterioration has accelerated significantly. Environmental degradation has been a subject of research across the world because of its impact on billions of people. However, there has been no international agreement on lowering the utilization of energy and CO2 emissions (CO2), while demand for fossil fuels grows in emerging economies. On the other hand, the recent COP26 summit brought all parties together to accelerate action toward reaching the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Although previous research shows that international trade promotes positive socioeconomic outcomes, other experts argue that it contributes to natural resource shortages and ecological deterioration. Thus, the current research considers the effect of international trade, renewable energy use and technological innovation on consumption-based carbon emissions (CCO2), coupled with the role of financial development and economic growth in the BRICS economies between 1990 and 2018. Moreover, this research utilizes the common correlated effects mean group (CCEMG), augmented mean group (AMG) and Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) causality methods to assess these interrelationships. The study findings reveal that renewable energy use, exports and technological innovation mitigate CCO2, whereas economic growth and imports trigger CCO2 in the BRICS economies. The panel causality outcomes also reveal that all the variables except financial development can predict CCO2 emissions. Based on the study findings, we recommend the adoption of policies, regulations and the development of legislative frameworks that promote technological innovation and the shift toward sustainable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the alarming deterioration of the environment, the present analysis investigates the role of eco-innovation, natural resources and financial development in influencing the environmental degradation of China. Applying the novel method of quantile ARDL, the current research is beneficial in portraying the dependence patterns of the variables with special emphasis on the nexus of eco-innovation and ecological footprint across numerous quantiles of the distribution which has not been examined so far in the literature. The empirical findings reveal that in the long run, eco-innovation reduces the level of ecological deterioration in China across all quantiles. On the other hand, the results suggest that the increase in credit to the private sector and natural resource rents augments environmental degradation. The outcomes imply that the over-dependence on natural resources and financial development can worsen the goals of sustainable development in China if the strategies of conservation and management are ignored. Moreover, witnessing the favorable role of eco-innovation, competent policies and regulations can be made toward sustainable efficient technologies and eco-friendly energy sources to halt global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike previous studies, this study attempts to fill the research gap in the area of consumption-based carbon emissions by introducing the role of energy productivity and eco-innovation along with international trade. To fill the mentioned research gap, the present study aims to evaluate the impact of eco-innovation and energy productivity on trade-adjusted consumption-based carbon emissions for the Next Eleven (N-11) economies using updated available data from 1995–2019. Further, on the methodological aspect, this study employed novel advanced panel data econometric techniques such as cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lags model (CS-ARDL), Westerlund cointegration test, and augmented mean group approach, which helps to tackle the problem of cross-section dependency and heterogeneity. The empirical outcomes confirm the long-run cointegrating relationship for consumption-based carbon emissions with exports, imports, gross domestic product, energy productivity, and eco-innovation. The results from CS-ARDL indicate that energy productivity, eco-innovation, and exports decrease carbon emissions by − 0.181%, − 0.0148%, and − 0.292%, respectively. However, economic growth and imports cause carbon emissions to increase by 1.201% and 0.225%, respectively. Moreover, the results also confirmed that any policy targeting energy productivity, exports, imports, gross domestic product, and eco-innovation should help to achieve equilibrium in approximately more than 1 year. This study recommends that the role of energy productivity and environment-related innovation is crucial for achieving the carbon neutrality target of the Next Eleven economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the effect of four determinants of electric vehicle diffusion in China for a panel of 31 regions for the period 2010–2016. We analyze diffusion of four different electric vehicle types, namely battery electric cars and buses as well as plug-in hybrid electric cars and buses. System GMM panel estimation results show that total monetary subsidies have a positive effect only on the diffusion of battery electric cars. A closer look reveals that subsidies provided by regional governments are decisive for all types of vehicles but the subsidy provided by the central government and its degression over time dilute the overall effect of subsidies and is partly detrimental. Non-monetary ownership policies, such as license-plate lotteries, show a positive effect only for battery electric cars. Availability of public charging infrastructure increases diffusion of all vehicle types. Charging points are relevant for cars, while charging stations are especially decisive for the diffusion of electric buses. Using local environmental conditions as a novel determinant for the diffusion of electric vehicles reveals that the local air pollution influences the diffusion of buses, but not of cars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green entrepreneurship is a special type of entrepreneurship that can achieve sustainable development, which is advocated for by many countries and regions. Accordingly, large-scale green entrepreneurship activities of new ventures are appearing in the emerging green industry around the world. To initially study how to promote the diffusion of eco-innovation in green entrepreneurship activities, the evolutionary game models of new ventures' eco-innovation and greenwashing behavior affected by market mechanisms and government regulations were respectively established. Furthermore, a benign evolution path of the system was proposed by analyzing the evolutionary stable state of the green entrepreneurial system composed of the government and new ventures. Then, the simulation analysis was carried out using a case study to more intuitively observe the influence of some important parameters including government subsidies and so forth on the evolutionary stable state of the system. The research showed that it is difficult for pure market mechanisms to promote the spread of new ventures' eco-innovation behaviors in the initial stage of the development of the emerging green industry, and the government regulation is exceedingly important. The parallel use and timely adjustments between the government subsidy and penalty mechanisms can effectively promote the diffusion of new ventures' eco-innovation behaviors under certain conditions. Besides, the size (positive and negative) of the benefits gaps realized by "greenwashing" and "eco-innovation" radically determines the direction and result of the evolution of new ventures' behavioral strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine whether firms' environmental innovation can improve consumers' purchasing tendencies, we constructed a mediation model with moderation based on attribution theory. We used the altruistic attribution of firms' environmental innovation as the intermediation role and corporate environmental violations as the moderator, and we experimentally verified the model. The empirical results suggest that firms' environmental innovation positively affects consumers' purchase intention and that the positive effect of eco-product innovation is greater than that of eco-process innovation. Consumers' altruistic attribution of firms' environmental innovation behavior is decreased when an enterprise has environmental violations, which in turn weakens consumers' purchase intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently the LED sector has been going through a period of rapid technological change and intensive competition. In rapidly growing technological systems, incumbent firms use a range of intellectual property rights (IPR)-related strategies to gain competitive advantage. This is often accompanied by an increased number of patent lawsuits, which signals a strong IPR regime and can be detrimental to innovation as previously shown for various sectors. In this article we examine the nature of LED-related litigated and non-litigated patents and explore the main drivers of patent lawsuits. From our analysis we obtain four results. First, litigated LED patents are of significantly higher quality compared to non-litigated ones. Second, even though the quality of defended patents is high, two leading plaintiffs are non-practicing entities. Third, litigations generally occur between incumbent firms. Fourth, the 2005 US Energy Policy Act seems to have reshaped the dynamics of innovation in the sector. We discuss the implications of these results with respect to the literature on the effect of litigations on innovation in general, and on eco-innovations in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study empirically investigates the role of eco-innovation on the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) in an extended version of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). Under dynamic framework, second-generation panel econometric techniques such as the CADF and the CIPS unit root tests, DSUR cointegrating test, and DH panel causality test are employed over the period 2007–2016 for the case of top 20 refined oil exporting countries. Results reveal that eco-innovation (i.e. research and development) exerts a negative and significant long-term effect on carbon emissions (CO2). This result indicates that the extended version of EKC and the Porter hypotheses are validated for the selected countries. The findings, which show heterogeneity and cross-sectionally dependence in the panel time-series framework, suggest that rising levels of carbon emissions and real income may encourage more research and development (i.e. eco innovation) and lower energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the Porter hypothesis, regulations on environmental emissions under certain conditions can promote eco-innovation. This is why the technological innovation systems (TIS) theory sees regulatory pressure as a major system function critical in the take-off phase. In other words, the design and timing of any regulation may be decisive for the regulatory outcome. The research seeks to provide empirical evidence on how the Baltic Sea Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA) has impacted the technological innovation system within the Baltic Sea Region maritime sectors. The results (1) show that regulatory compliance gave a knowledge development that has made it possible for clean-tech companies to engage in entrepreneurial activities that created new markets, (2) empirically support the TIS theory and the Porter hypothesis, and (3) provide qualitative evidence on how businesses see environmental regulation. The innovation system for ship sulphur emission abatement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]