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Abstract: Nanoparticle innovation with application to ‘print-on-paper’ is analysed as an emergent network using social network mapping methods. Its relationship with the innovation network concerned with deinkability for enhanced fibre recycling is explored. Three types of nano-innovations are identified: ink, fibre and coatings applications embedded in heterogeneous networks of nanoparticles and deinkability. It is shown that, in spite of expectations for the potential contribution of nanoparticle technology to deinkability, the networks are poorly linked. The primary role of the nanoparticle innovations identified is for commercial printability rather than sustainable deinkability. These findings suggest that broad claims for the contribution of nanotechnology to sustainability are not necessarily translated into specific innovation priorities in business practice. If such potential is to be realised then these currently separate networks need to be linked much more effectively. Key gatekeepers are identified who could potentially contribute to the achievement of this. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Current environmental crisis calls for new sustainable materials and products. Mycelium-based materials are grown by fungi onto solid ligno-cellulosic substrates and are promising sustainable materials which still face barriers to entry. This review discusses the challenges and prospects for making mycelium products. First, the technical challenges, properties needs and scientific knowledge gaps are reviewed. Then, methods to tailor the performance of mycelium-based materials are proposed, using synthetic or natural means. Living mycelium-based materials are also considered as an interesting alternative. The potential market opportunities for these products and their distribution are also discussed along with the public acceptance and perception. Overall, this paper complements current reviews on mycelium materials fabrication and properties by highlighting key gaps and challenges to address to allow these materials to enter the market. The paper suggests directions of future research and development for including mycelium-based products in daily life and improving the sustainability of the materials commonly used and their production. • One barrier to entry for mycelium products is their biodegradability. • Mycelium products could be made competitive thanks to their biodegradability. • Mycelium materials' properties can be tailored using synthetic or natural means. • Mycelium-based materials can also be used as living engineering materials. • Positive public perception could increase by adopting holistic views of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental issues are closely related to the economic development of human society, and reducing environmental pollution during production is of great significance for environmental protection. This paper utilizes data from Chinese industrial enterprises (2001–2010), and establishes a fixed effects model to examine whether minimum wage standards are important in reducing non-clean energy consumption by enterprises. The results indicate that an increase in the monthly minimum wage leads to a significant reduction in coal consumption by firms, while the change in the hourly minimum wage do not exert a statistically significant influence on coal consumption by firms. The above empirical results remain robust after conducting a series of endogeneity tests. The mechanism test shows that innovation and exports serve as mediating variables between the minimum wage and coal consumption. Specifically, raising the minimum wage can incentivize enterprises to innovate in production and expand their exports, resulting in a decrease in the consumption of non-clean energy. Finally, through the heterogeneity test, we observe that increases in the minimum wage have varying effects on coal consumption among firms with different numbers of employees and different ages. Based on the research findings of this paper, we propose that the government should comprehensively consider and improve relevant systems, formulate scientifically-based minimum wage standards, take into account both workers' rights and interests as well as enterprises' profits, actively promote energy transformation in enterprises, and ultimately achieve long-term development of the social environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability-oriented innovation is a developing area in the academic literature, and existing measurement models are either lacking in scope or they have not been validated. Following an extensive review of existing academic literature, this paper addresses this gap by developing a new sustainability-oriented innovation scale. The scale includes elements from the triple bottom line, which incorporates social, environmental, and financial considerations. Environmental considerations are further broken down into carbon footprint, pollution, and materials life cycle. Notably, we also separate capability (could we do it), evaluation (do we measure it), and performance (do we put it into practice in our products and services, and operations). As a holistic model we also include strategy, partnerships, and demand. The validity of the scale was tested first through a pilot study with 23 respondents, and second through a survey study with 202 respondents. Scale evaluation tests confirm the consistency, convergent, and discriminant validity of the new sustainability-oriented innovation scale. Both exploratory and confirmatory analysis results confirm that the theorised scale is a good fit for the data. The contribution of this paper is a comprehensive, validated survey instrument to measure the capability of organisations to deliver sustainable innovation. [Display omitted] • We develop a new scale for measuring sustainability-oriented innovation. • The new scale is suitable for a wide range of organisation types. • The new scale separates capability, evaluation and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental information disclosure has been widely used as an approach of pollution reduction. But its impact on firms' competitiveness is not adequately studied in the literature. To fill this gap, this paper empirically investigates how China's first national environmental information disclosure program affects the profitability of a panel of Chinese industrial firms using China's annual surveys of manufacturing firms and its pollution information transparency indexes at the city level. We find that stricter environmental disclosure in China leads to increased firm profitability, lending support to the Porter hypothesis. And the results are robust to various robustness checks. In addition, the results show that the environmental disclosure program in China increases industrial firms' propensity to innovate as well as innovating firms' innovation intensity. Thus, the findings of this paper provide more rationales for governments to use environmental information disclosure as a mean of pollution reduction. Image 1 • China's environmental information disclosure program increases firm profitability. • Stricter environmental disclosure also leads to increased firm innovation. • Increased innovation is necessary for increased profitability. • The results lend support to the Porter hypothesis. • The results encourage the use of environmental information disclosure programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young generations worldwide are not only drastically calling for a more sustainable future, but for having a future at all. In this conceptual article, we pursue the question of how we can make this happen, and argue why it is up to every individual to do so. Based on the rationale of the four-c model of creativity, we argue for four levels of individual sustainability actions: mini-s, little-s, Pro-S and Big-S. Mini-s actions are intrapersonal and represent a core element of individual learning about sustainability. Little-s actions are more interpersonal and demonstrate, on average, a higher reach and impact than mini-s. Pro-S stands for professional actions and solutions. These types of actions are interpersonal and extend their reach and impact beyond a small group of people. They usually need some degree of expertise to achieve a greater reach and impact. Big-S relates to big actions with the highest reach, impact, novelty and usefulness. They refer to solutions that are likely to change how we generally relate to a given product or category and cause a drastic change in our lifestyle. We discuss each action category with examples and outline how these actions may support different sustainability solutions. For this, we search relevant literature on current measurement and conceptual approaches and on specific solutions and take the case of a comprehensive economic approach, steady state economy. Also, concrete levels, conditions, goals, attributes, creativity degrees, profits, motivations and bottom-up principles with examples of application are introduced. • The current sustainability crisis requires an operationalization for individuals. • We argue for individual sustainability actions: little-s, mini-s, Pro-S and Big-S. • Little-s actions are interpersonal with a higher reach & impact than mini-sus. • Pro-S stands for professional actions and solutions. • Big-S relates to big actions with highest reach, impact, novelty and usefulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As agriculture is an important contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, carbon labelling aiming at climate protection will play an increasing role in the future. An important example is the development of guidelines and standards for climate-neutral agricultural products and their respective certification. Carbon neutral certifications are, however, affected by criticism and mistrust as there were cases of doubtful claims to carbon neutrality in the past. Against this background, this paper analyses a rather promising case of certification for carbon neutrality: the pioneer case of the Costa Rican coffee cooperative Coopedota, which is the first organization worldwide that achieved certification for carbon neutrality in coffee using a renowned international standard. Coopedota's carbon neutral coffee is certified according to the Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2060, which is based on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The paper analyses how the cooperative came to apply this certification, which challenges it faced and how the cooperative solved them. Furthermore, the paper examines the social, political and institutional factors that fostered this innovation. To analyse the success factors that were relevant in this case, a Social Network Analysis approach was used. An innovative tool called ‘Process Net-Map’ was applied to visualize the social networks that enabled the actors to pursue the certification scheme. Process Net-Map also made it possible to identify the role and importance of different types of actors. The analysis shows that the certification created awareness on emission hot-spots along the coffee value chain. Reliable farm data from producers were identified as crucial because emissions at the farm level account for 60% of total emissions. It was also found that by avoiding pure offsetting, PAS 2060 supports emission reduction; however, PAS 2060 does not account for on-site carbon sequestration, for which coffee cultivation has high potential. Overall, the study found that the most important success factors include a combination of (i) past achievements in Coopedota's sustainability policy, which was incentivised by national and international trends and (ii) strong, visionary actors who performed the necessary network functions. The analysis also showed that the network of relevant actors is highly centralized, (indicated by a degree centrality of 86%), which may jeopardize the sustainability of the innovation project. Moreover, the network analysis revealed the importance of ‘double linkages’ between actors, which points to the role that combined services, such as funding and advice, played for the introduction of the certification scheme. General implications are derived from this case for future efforts to promote carbon neutral certification schemes for agri-food products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines what drives green innovation investment and exploitation with regard to sustainability. The specific focus of this paper is on company valuations of different dimensions of sustainability and their relationships to green innovation. Empirical data were gathered from a cross-section of horse industry companies located in Finland. The scientific value of the paper lies in showing that certain dimensions of sustainability lead to the exploitation of and investment in green innovation, while other dimensions do not. The results of this study's regression analyses show that the more a company values economic, institutional, and social sustainability, the more likely it is to invest in green innovation. Further, a high valuation of institutional and economic sustainability increases the willingness to exploit green innovation. The valuation of environmental sustainability was not found to affect the willingness to invest in or exploit green innovation. Our results suggest that green innovation is driven by economic and institutional pressures, and that such innovation can create value in terms of social sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst low or zero carbon buildings (L/ZCBs) are espoused in many policy instruments, with many examples constructed to demonstrate their technical feasibility, there is a scarcity of effort examining the role of business models (BMs) in the delivery of L/ZCBs. BM innovation plays a decisive role in improving a company's competitiveness because it could quickly convert emerging technologies into commercial values by reorganising company's internal structure and offers. This paper aims to identify the factors influencing construction firms' BM innovation in the context of L/ZCBs, and measure the relationships between BM innovation for L/ZCBs and its influencing factors. This paper first identifies the influencing factors of BM innovation for L/ZCBs at both external and internal organisation levels and conceptualizes the constituting elements of BM innovation through a critical literature review. The paper then conducts a questionnaire survey with 132 building professionals in Hong Kong, and analyses the collected data using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Results from the survey show that favorable external environment towards L/ZCBs has a positive impact on BM innovation. Entrepreneurship of top managers and organisational learning capability of a firm are positively correlated with BM innovation for L/ZCB. Entrepreneurship and organisational learning capability mediate the relationships between external environment and BM innovation. The paper provides novel insights for building developers, contractors, and designers that wish to develop alternative business strategies and BMs. Research findings provide practical guidances on the process and elements of BM innovation for industry practitioners, and support the accelerated diffusion of L/ZCBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the imminent water crisis era and stringent water environment management, enterprises play a vital role in environmental governance. However, there is seldom analysis on how the water environment regulation influences an enterprise's innovation due to data deficiency. Using our database from 2000 to 2022, we combine geographic information from water quality monitoring stations with the data on listed companies in China to pinpoint what distance firms are exposed to the monitoring stations. Results from a spatial regression discontinuity design along the geographic distances demonstrate that water environmental regulation has a significant positive impact on the quantity and quality of enterprise innovation. This paper found that it is primarily driven by the decreased usage of intermediate goods, rising industry profits from the exit of low-productivity firms, and enhanced enterprise research and development (R&D) investment. Furthermore, the positive impact is more pronounced for privately-owned firms, firms closer to suppliers, polluting firms, and politically unaffiliated firms. Our study offers scientifically valuable insights for emerging market countries in formulating effective water environmental regulation policies to incentivize firms to innovate in environmental protection. Additionally, it provides novel ideas on synergizing water environmental regulation and firm innovation to foster a mutually beneficial relationship between environmental protection and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationships between environmental regulations, firms' innovation and private sustainability benefits using nine case studies of UK and Chinese firms. It aims to unravel the mechanisms by which a firm's environmental behaviour in improving its private benefits of sustainability is influenced by its relationship with the government, which primarily enacts regulations to maximise public sustainability benefits in the interests of society as a whole. The paper takes its cue from the Porter hypothesis to make some broad preliminary assumptions to inform the research design. A conceptual framework was developed through inductive case studies using template analysis. The results show that depending on firms' resources and capabilities, those that adopt a more dynamic approach to respond to environmental regulations innovatively and take a proactive approach to manage their environmental performance are generally better able to reap the private benefits of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vast majority of supply-chain literature has focused on supply chain management, innovation and sustainability, separately. However, little supply-chain research focuses on innovation under the supply chain context, which is expected to deliver a sustainable outcome. Is it a great research opportunity to explore or a subject unworthy of studying? This paper offers a systematic literature review considering 107 related papers published from 1996 to 2014. In this review, both descriptive and thematic analyses demonstrate it to be a great research opportunity worthy of exploring. A conceptual framework containing the definition of sustainable supply chain innovation (SSCI) and its distinctive characteristics are proposed and identified. Furthermore, some opportunities for the research in future, such as antecedents to SSCI, are suggested and discussed in this paper. Both academics and practitioners in companies might find this review useful as it stimulates further research and guides sustainable supply chain innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at investigation of the nexus between Industry 4.0 (I4.0) and environmental sustainability in addition to exploring the long-run and short-run effects of Industry 4.0 on CO 2 emissions. For this end, energy consumption, internet and communication technology (ICT) exports, research and development (R&D), artificial intelligence (AI), ICT technology patents and bitcoin are taken as control variables of Industry 4.0 for a panel of 9 countries that contribute to 62% of the total CO 2 emissions in the world. For this purpose, the paper follows two approaches. First, the paper proposes utilization of AI and ICT technology patents, technology-related R&Ds and ICT exports as variables of I4.0 in addition to investigating the effects of economic growth, energy consumption and bitcoin. Second, to control structural changes and nonlinearity in the cointegrating relations and existence of degenerate cointegration, Fourier panel bootstrap autoregressive distributed lag model (FPBARDL) is utilized. Afterwards, FPBARDL based long, short and strong causality analyses are conducted. The empirical findings revealed positive impacts of all I4.0-related variables on emissions in the long-run. Though I4.0 related AI and ICT innovation has no direct effect in the short-run, its effects are determined through increased energy consumption towards emissions. The strong positive effects of energy consumption and positive effects of economic growth, ICT exports and R&D are observed both in the short and long-run. In addition to positive impacts of I4.0 on environment, the findings favor insufficiency of policies focusing on lowering emissions in I4.0 context.Policy recommendations include strong commitment to energy efficiency and renewable energies and trade policies with environmental concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A question that often arises when requirements of sustainability are sought in design projects is whether creativity has any place in such design interventions. Regardless if the perspective for exploring alternatives of unsustainable situations is short, medium or long-term, designers as producers of culture strive for creative outcomes in all their projects. Yet when sustainability is a rigid requirement, designers often resort to evaluation methods or tools, specifically those that result in instrumental rather than exploratory design interventions. In today's obsession with risk management, where there is a constant preoccupation to be able to predict risks associated with our environment, the economy, our societies, etc., can designers liberate the design process from such instrumentality and indeed conceptualize far beyond specific points of environmental inefficiencies in existing products, services, buildings or spaces? The international discourse related to sustainable development is embedded in a risk management paradigm that valorizes a preventive approach. This implies that the design intervention is meant to appease unsustainable symptoms. This paper seeks to highlight the importance of a variety of temporal and spatial design approaches for achieving sustainable creativity. By thinking outside the boundaries of the given problem, design for sustainability has the capacity to rethink the social and cultural assumptions embedded in the everyday. This process of reimaging a different future rather than focusing only on the redesign of more eco-efficient artefacts may be one entry point for introducing creativity in design for sustainability. This paper will present a series of design projects to illustrate the difference in thinking and outcome when design for sustainability is thought of in these varying temporal and spatial perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent abandonment of old taxis and the introduction and diffusion of new taxis and car ride-sharing services of Uber and the sharing economy in general shows that institutional environments change. This paper provides a review on institutional change based on 29 previously published case studies. Based on this review and the Uber case an overview of antecedents for institutional change is developed. Furthermore, an existing model describing the process of institutional change (Greenwood et al., 2002) is validated and extended. This extended process model describes the development and different phases of institutional change. This paper aims to enrich our theoretical understanding of institutional change and to provide insights for change agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the history of cleaner production in the Asia-Pacific region, there have been sustained efforts to develop cleaner production techniques and also techniques for sustainability assessment to ensure that the desired benefits from cleaner production are actually achieved. Two conferences, the Asia Pacific Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (APRSCP) and the International Conference on Green and Sustainable Innovation (ICGSI) have been organized regularly to bring together experts on cleaner production as well as assessment. Papers presented at these events form part of this special volume along with some invited papers from outside. The papers cover a wide range of topics under the cleaner production umbrella including product and process development and innovation, environmental assessments including carbon footprint, water footprint, life cycle assessment and more comprehensive sustainability assessment including socio-economic issues along with environmental ones. The papers in this special volume reflect the status of green and sustainable innovation for cleaner production in the Asia-Pacific region. The studies in this volume demonstrate Asian examples of the development of innovative technologies and the application of life cycle thinking-based assessment techniques, including those that are well-established and emerging ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, the interaction among innovation, tourism, and climate change has become a point of focus recently. This study examines the impact of innovation and tourism development on the sustainable development of the G7 economies. Panel data from 2000 to 2019 was analyzed for cross-sectional dependency, and a series of panel unit root tests were used to confirm the variables' unit root properties. Pedroni and Kao's tests confirm the cointegration relationship among the variables. The fully modified OLS and dynamic OLS results show that higher economic prosperity and lower environmental pollution are associated with innovation as measured in scientific publications and patents, highlighting the importance of innovation. The results highlight the positive significant impact of tourism arrivals on pollution reduction and economic expansion, which mark the steps for sustainable development. The study finds further evidence that asylum refugees did not positively contribute to economic prosperity, nor were they active in the environmental correction plans of the countries. The level of education provides strong evidence supporting sustainable development by encouraging economic growth and discouraging environmental degradation. Overall, the results recommend raising the level of innovation, tourism development, and higher technical education for the sustainable development of the G7 economies. These findings offer important contributions to firms, policymakers, and UN sustainable development agendas. [Display omitted] • The paper assesses the impact of innovation and tourism on sustainability. • The results show that innovation helps improve environmental quality. • The results reveal that innovation helps foster economic prosperity. • The paper finds that tourism helps in pollution reduction and economic expansion. • The results show that the level of education is important for sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emission trading, a market-incentive environmental regulation, plays a critical role in leading China towards the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. To improve the national carbon emission trading in China, we analyze the effects of the policy in pilot provinces and pilot A-share listed firms from 2008 to 2016. Particularly, to explore the pilot policy's environmental and financial impacts, this paper applies a difference-in-difference method. After the robustness check, the results confirm the carbon emission trading pilot's significantly positive impact at both firm- and province-level regarding carbon emission reduction. Meanwhile, corporate innovation seems to partially mediate the relationship between the policy and corporate carbon emission reduction. Plus, the policy promotes firms' market-based financial performance but such impact on accounting-based financial performance is insignificant. Ultimately, the operational mechanism of the policy is proved to be effective. In this paper, industry- and firm-level carbon emissions databases are established via environmental extended input-output table, which fill the research gap of China's firm-level carbon emissions. To ensure the reliability of results, the list of covered firms is sorted out manually in accordance with the disclosed data of seven carbon trading markets. Our results are meaningful for avoid productivity reduction and mechanism re-design in the context of the national carbon emission trading launched in 2021. Specifically, encouraging firms to further improve their productivity and competitiveness by innovation could eventually achieve a win-win situation between economic performance and environmental merits in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many environmental networks form around specific initiatives with prescribed outcome objectives. When the objectives are met, the networks frequently disband. Technological transfer halts and the social capital built up during the initiative fragments, in many cases, disappearing altogether. In an era of globally unsustainable economic activity, encouraging progressive innovation and broadening the scale and scope of knowledge transfer is one strategy for helping to attenuate ecological damage. This paper presents empirical field work which explores the Kalundborg Symbiosis in Denmark – a network of economic actors that has organically come together to implement industrial ecology principles – and documents how this network has managed to foster progressive innovation. The four drivers which emerged as central for fostering collaboration are i) a pragmatic environmental mindset, ii) the existence of opportunities to explore possibilities, iii) mutually beneficial initiatives and iv) the presence of dominant needs which stimulate a proactive search for solutions. The paper also contributes to sustainable public policy and urban planning literature by considering how municipal involvement can foster progressive and sustained development within the Kalundborg Symbiosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of clean energy technologies is a central issue in climate change negotiation. The signatory countries to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change agreed to organize the Technology Executive Committee and the Climate Technology Centre and Network. The objectives of this paper are twofold. The first objective is to show a broad landscape of barriers in technology development. The paper summarizes the results of key case studies that were conducted to uncover technology-specific barriers in technology development. These case studies include both technologies for industrial use such as wind, bio-energy and building energy efficiency and technologies for individual use such as Light Emitting Diodes and photovoltaic panels. The case studies also contain technologies at the innovation stage such as Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle and Carbon Capture and Storage. The second objective of this paper is to highlight and define roles of international institutions in overcoming identified barriers in clean energy technology development. In this paper four areas of focus for international institutions are discussed, including: 1) increasing R&D cooperation at the innovation stage, 2) facilitation of intellectual property rights, 3) supporting finance, and 4) enhancing the enabling environment at the diffusion stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable product-service system (SPSS) concept highlights that achieving sustainability requires changes in both ‘production’ and ‘consumption’. Nevertheless, attention has focused mainly on ‘production’. This paper enriches the SPSS approach with insights from the sociology of consumption and practice theory to provide a deeper understanding of the use of products and services in daily life contexts. The paper advances three key insights related to: a) the internal dynamics of user practices, b) the strength of linkages of practice elements (loose and tight coupling), c) external linkages to other practices. These insights are mobilised to provide a deeper understanding of the uptake and diffusion of innovations such as SPSS. The insights are illustrated with two cases in which interventions designed to stimulate diffusion have had differential success: energy efficient light bulbs and low temperature laundry. Implications for understanding the diffusion of SPSS are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology parks promote science, technology and innovation through their components, such as high-tech companies, universities and incubators. They show a significant increase in the number of units, especially in emerging countries such as Brazil. Unlike the industrial and logistic parks that, due to functional requirements, have their pre-determined and standardized architectural and urban characteristics, technological parks have in the innovation, their main characteristic, the possibility of proposing more suitable spaces for urban innovation. The Roof Mosaic is an approach that seeks self-sufficiency in urban areas from the food-energy-water nexus, using rooftops to produce food, renewable energy and rainwater harvesting. The integration between technology parks and Roof Mosaic can be advantageous since their roofs have a lower slope and greater design flexibility than other parks and can, therefore, contribute to the sustainable development of cities. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the potential of technology parks when implementing the Roof Mosaic. A case study underway was used, which is the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) Technology Park (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). The results from the case study show the potential for: 100% food self-sufficiency using hydroponic production of lettuces and tomatoes, meeting the demands of approximately 3,300 people; 45.2% for energy generated from photovoltaic panels; and 43% for water reusing rainwater harvesting. The potential of avoided CO 2 emissions using rainwater for non-potable purposes, food production and renewable energy, presented of nearly 805 tons of avoided CO 2 equivalents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study covered in this paper investigates the relationship between green orientation, co-innovation, and innovative efficiency. By employing non-parametric techniques, the joint role of green orientation and co-innovation in optimal innovation configurations of companies was examined. Efficiency comparisons were conducted using a sample of 734 firms from seven OECD countries, obtained from the Global Competitiveness Project for 2019. The findings revealed that companies following a green orientation demonstrated significantly higher levels of innovation output as well as greater co-innovation output compared to firms without a green strategy. Specifically, the study found that the amplifying impact of green orientation on innovative efficiency is consistently enhanced across all studied economies when co-innovation is involved. Institutional co-innovation was identified as a crucial factor contributing to these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public acceptance of sustainable energy innovations and policies is of crucial importance in enabling the transition to decarbonized energy systems necessary to meet the key climate targets of the Paris Agreement. This is particularly important in the context of the European Union, which is the third largest energy-related greenhouse gas emitter in the world. However, achieving acceptance is complex and requires improved understanding of the underlying conditions that are likely to motivate it. To contribute to this understanding and overcome common shortcomings in the literature, this paper presents a multidimensional and cross-national framework for the factors that have the potential to motivate both dimensions of acceptance, namely adoption and support. The innovations of interest are numerous and include electric vehicles, residential solar panels, energy-efficient home insulation, environmental taxes and incentives. The paper employs multilevel regression analysis and combines individual and contextual data from all the European Union nations to demonstrate the significance of various types of predictors in motivating acceptance. It is found that citizens' personal capabilities and attitudes towards life satisfaction, climate change and the environment influence both dimensions of acceptance. Attitudes towards broader socio-political dimensions such as representation, equity and transparency primarily influence support, whereas national environmental and energy policy indicators primarily influence adoption. Overall, this paper provides evidence suggesting governments should simultaneously address both dimensions of acceptance, through a combination of different means: enhancing support through strategies that target attitudes and preferences, and market-based environmental policies that promote adoption at the household level. • A comprehensive framework to explore citizen adoption and support of energy innovations • Both technological and economic innovations are investigated • Combining individual and contextual data from all the European Union nations • Market-based policies and citizen attitudes to climate change affect technology adoption • Attitudes to socio-political dimensions affect support for renewables and environmental taxes [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the all-encompassing environmental challenge facing the automotive industry the weight of the car is one essential factor that has an effect on CO2 emissions for both conventional cars and for Electric Vehicles and Hybrid Electric Vehicles. Even though automakers understand and have largely mastered the technical difficulties involved with alternatives to the all-steel body, the mainstream industry has nevertheless for the most part retained it. The purpose of this paper is to explore the SåNätt lightweight project as a concrete example of how two Swedish automakers (Saab and Volvo) have approached the lightweight challenge, but also to conceptualize the project in terms of what hinders and enables environmental innovations in the automotive industry. The result of the study indicates fundamentally different approaches between the automakers. While Saab focused on radical development of new concepts aiming to build a supplier structure for collaboration, Volvo focused on incremental development emphasizing short-term implementation. The empirical data also reveals a tendency for Volvo to be more deeply committed to its infrastructure for body manufacturing (the production of the all-steel body), thus hindering more radical changes. The paper concludes by highlighting a paradox emerging from the case, questioning whether established actors in the automotive industry can effectively deal with the environmental challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Networked infrastructures such as waste, energy, water and transport are integral to sustainable urban transformation. They are closely linked to urban growth and underpin the economic, social and environmental performance of modern cities. At the same time places shape the transformation of such complex infrastructural systems. Effective waste management contributes significantly to public health, environmental sustainability and economic development and it is an inherently urban challenge. Combining insights from urban studies with research on ‘systems innovation’ and ‘sustainable transitions’, this paper deals with a transformation towards a more sustainable waste management system in an urban setting. More specifically, the paper describes how Greater Manchester (UK) underwent a transformation from a relatively simple landfill model to a highly complex, multi-technology waste solution based on intensive recycling and composting, and sustainable energy usage. The case is relevant because the UK has long been seen as a laggard when it comes to sustainable waste practices. The 1999 EU landfill directive exerted great pressure to change waste practices in the UK. Against the national trend of incineration with energy recovery, Greater Manchester opted instead for a solution that was deemed more innovative and sustainable, but which involved overcoming significant technological, political and financial challenges. The paper investigates the process that led to this purposive transformation, characterized by a mix of political vision, stakeholder engagement, economies of scale, and the ability of waste disposal managers to gather expertise, resources, political influence and commitment at multiple levels of governance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract The rate of transition to a circular economy would largely be influenced by how successfully sustainable niche innovation can be developed and adopted. This paper measures and evaluates the effectiveness of employing a triple helix-based system intermediary as a policy tool for nurturing a niche innovation network in line with circular economy transition. This was achieved through a complete social network analysis of a national industrial biotechnology innovation network, in which the organization functioning as network manager was innovatively structured as a triple helix-based system intermediary. Through unique access to the entire national industrial biotechnology niche network, a large set of primary data was collected on 13 types of relational ties related to innovation between all 64 public sector, industry and academic niche network member organizations. The impact of the triple helix-based system intermediary on the level of cohesion, presence of cohesive subgroups and centralisation of the niche network was empirically measured. As such, the effectiveness of the intermediary in undertaking key nurturing activities of building the network, facilitating shared learning and raising expectations were evaluated. This allowed for the most comprehensive empirical study to date on a niche innovation network and the role of system intermediaries in circular economy transition. The results of the analysis demonstrate the profound nurturing effect that the introduction of a triple helix-based system intermediary has had on the network. In particular, the results appear to confirm the effectiveness of the intermediary with regards to increasing knowledge and resource flows amongst triple helix institutions as well as between regime and niche actors. Highlights • System intermediation is necessary for nurturing circular economy oriented niche innovation networks. • Niche network cohesion, clustering and centralisation increased from presence of triple helix-based system intermediary. • Triple helix system intermediary expanded niche network, raised expectations and increased shared learning. • Triple-helix system intermediary can broker structural holes between niche and wider regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper provides a critical literature overview of the foundations of the concepts of sustainability and sociotechnical systems change. This review covers the analysis of 182 scientific articles through a combination of bibliometric analysis, snowballing, content analysis and problematization. Our results identify and discuss 14 unique ontological and normative foundations shaping how we understand sociotechnical system change for sustainability. These influence both what system change is perceived as desirable and as attainable; as well as how to navigate between all the coexisting pathways, trade-offs, and complexities of the three dimensions of sustainability. By identifying the theoretical foundations, we illustrate the most up-to-date theoretical developments and concomitantly pinpoint a few opportunities for future contributions that improve, refute or complement them, hence shedding light on various research questions to develop the literature further. Highlights • Systematic literature review on sociotechnical systems change for sustainability. • Categorization of literature and summary of key contributions. • Identification of 14 dominant foundations grounding theoretical development. • Discussion on future research paths building upon this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The European Union has recently introduced the ’circular economy’ as a high-level strategy to move our societies beyond the limits to growth. In the eyes of European policy makers, we will reach a circular economy through business innovation or the promotion of existing sustainable business models based on circular economy principles. Yet, we know next to nothing about how European businesses perceive or take up this strategy and whether it contributes to business innovation or the promotion of sustainable business models. To fill this gap, this paper analyses the business community’s view on the circular economy. It focuses on the bio-based sector as one of the most resource-intensive in Europe and scrutinizes EU level debates as well as business practices in Germany. Based on a document analysis and participant observation data, the results show that business stakeholders currently relate the circular economy predominantly to established practices and to technological business models. This leaves considerable room for innovation in areas like social or organizational business models. Yet, the directions and effects of current activities remain uncertain. Connecting the debates about the circular economy and the bioeconomy could benefit the discussion of these possible directions and their effects. As our results show, exploring the relation between the circular economy and the bioeconomy highlights the need to define which cycles contribute most to a sustainable future economy. Existing guidelines and standards developed for businesses have been criticized for lacking exactly this definition. Hence, strengthening the link between circular economy and bioeconomy debates may provide a crucial step towards defining the sustainability of the circular economy, thereby setting clear priorities for sustainable business practices. Highlights • Business promotes established practices, leaving considerable room for innovation. • Discussions hardly cover social-environmental effects and obstacles of practices. • Scholarly and political engagement with business practice is urgently needed. • Such engagement would benefit from integrating circular and bioeconomy debates. • Because political priorities need to move beyond a biosphere-technosphere divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Arts have great potential to facilitate sustainability. However, as a growing research field, it is still not clear how and what factors of arts can be applied to promote sustainable behavior. This paper summarizes five key factors of artistic thinking, including novelty, criticism, perfectionism, unique, and passion; each of them reveals clues to addressing sustainability issues. Meaningful examples are presented to demonstrate the proposed ideas, and the implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed. The results suggest that turning any form of art-making processes into service offerings can help companies work with their customers and co-create sustainable value with them. Artistic thinking also encourages hands-on programs and problem-based learning that benefit education for sustainability. To link artistic thinking to behavior change, more art-making and art learning programs for citizens and communities should be developed. Graphical abstract Image Highlights • Artistic thinking has great potential to promote sustainable behavior change. • Spending more time on aesthetic engagement can foster the slow city movement. • Combing art-making processes with service design can enhance value co-creation. • Embedding artistic techniques in product design can help extend product life cycles. • Art making can promote problem-based learning for sustainability education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the widely reported benefits of zero carbon buildings (ZCBs), the actual uptake of the ZCB approach is low in market. Building firms need to innovate their business models (BMs) to overcome market barriers. However, there is scarce research into business strategies for ZCBs. This paper aims to develop a typology of BM innovations for delivering ZCBs from the perspective of developers and clients. This typology reflects the common features of BM innovations and can be used to help assess the performance of innovative BMs. The research was conducted through theoretical analysis of BM innovation and exploratory case studies of five real-life ZCB projects selected from Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and the UK. The eight components of BMs at ZCB project level were found to be distinct from, or largely to extend, those at organizational level. The developed typology integrates three theoretical dimensions: value offering and associated project process, stakeholder network, and institutional boundary. The findings should help characterize and evaluate business solutions for delivering ZCB projects successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although much research has been done on ways to provide better conditions of environment and cleaner production, little attention has been paid to the impact of the short lifetime of the current products in sustainability and also to the necessity of providing natural resources to supply goods to a human population with a growth rate never seen before. Using literature review, secondary data and field research to illustrate this work with examples, the objective of this paper is to study the necessity of changing the paradigm of planned obsolescence to the one of long-lasting products and to present some suggestions found in the literature review on how to keep them updated under so many changes and innovation to which the products are subject in the present days. The practical implications of this research are to propose two mechanisms of planned obsolescence to complement the theory: Design for fast consumption , showing how industry designs products to artificially increase consumption of olive oil, perfumes, sunscreens, moisturizing creams, shampoos and other related products, and alert how a simple design change in toothpaste tubes with a mouth of internal diameter of 8 mm decreased to 5 mm can reduce consumption by 61% if frequency of brushing and length of toothpaste can be maintained; and Design for restricted technological update, approaching how industry uses this mechanism to force people to exchange their cellular phones and electronics in general every year; and also to propose solutions for a better benefit for consumers and the environment, and to arouse interest that global developing based on a consumption society is no longer sustainable, so a new and less consumerist society must replace the current one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production is based upon papers presented at the 1st International Workshop Advances in Cleaner Production (CP) held in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2007. The conference had the short-term purpose of deepening the Brazilian discussion on “The Roles of Cleaner Production in the Sustainable Development of Modern Societies”, and it had the long-term objective of providing an on-going interdisciplinary forum for knowledge development and exchange on Cleaner Production (CP) and Sustainable Development. This issue is devoted to papers covering a broad range of perspectives of CP practices and strategies. A special focus is placed upon methodological tools designed to support effective decision-making pertaining to quantitative benefits from CP. The ten papers provide insights from research designed to holistically integrate CP to help society make effective progress to sustainability. Papers cover the importance of informal knowledge, as complementary to formal knowledge, in performing effective ‘Environmental Impact Assessments.’ One paper explores the roles of radical and incremental innovation in the context of alternative automotive technologies. Benefits of Ecodesign are explored in two papers; one concerning its integration with remanufacturing to extend the life of used products and one focusing the adoption of ‘Emergy Environmental Accounting,’ as a complementary decision-making tool. The development of the Brazilian LCI database for ‘hydroelectric power generation’ and its contribution to support regionally relevant LCA studies is highlighted in one paper. The complete production chains of biodiesel and bioethanol are evaluated by using global methodologies, which help in the development of more objective and effective solutions. A “compensatory area”, calculated in terms of emergy, is proposed in order to work in a sustainable way for bamboo production. Finally, a paper about a novel approach for recycling used PET is also included. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper frames the response by business to the challenge of sustainable development in terms of innovation. It addresses how the shift in business focus from competitiveness to sustainability impacts the capabilities and competence for innovation. A review of the literature suggests that innovation for sustainability requires the active involvement of a broader and more diverse network of actors, including those with more local knowledge of the implications of innovations than is the case with more conventional forms of innovation. The paper also identifies a systematic failure to address the need for inventiveness as a cornerstone of innovation. The paper puts forward elements of an applied research agenda to support the development of a better understanding of the capabilities that foster the competence by business to innovate in ways that are more sustainable. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The mining sector has an enormous complexity generated by the management of economic, social and environmental factors. This leads us to study the behaviour of the mining sector in the Dominican Republic: CSR strategies, its relationship with extractive industry and business success based on competitiveness and innovation in this sector. At the same time, the role of CSR in auxiliary companies and its relationship with their performance, cooperation and competitiveness are analyzed. For this purpose, structural equations models are used. The results reveal that CSR favours the competitiveness and innovation of extractive companies, as well as their performance. For the auxiliary industry, CSR favours competitiveness, cooperation and performance. Among the practical applications we can highlight that companies should serve as tools for the development of the Dominican society, adhering to ethical, moral and fair principles. Therefore, mining companies are encouraged to establish CSR as a management model, since internal management in extractive companies can be used to improve their performance and competitiveness while introducing environmental management systems, as well as how to reinforce the productive chain through the strengthening of auxiliary companies, improving their technical capacities and increasing their profitability. • This study analyzes the extractive and auxiliary companies of the Dominican mining sector through two industries. • The results show the relationship between CSR and Innovation, Competitiveness, Cooperation and their influence on companies' Performance. • Paper demonstrates that cooperation between Extractive and Auxiliary Companies is fundamental to CSR compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The appropriate design of the emission trading scheme (ETS) plays a crucial role in promoting companies to conduct low-carbon technological innovations. Based on a questionnaire survey, this paper examines how the design of the ETS and identified determinants have impacted corporate low-carbon technological investment decisions. The data was collected from 99 companies in the eight areas that are implementing the ETS in China. The results indicate that five attributes significantly influence the possibility of corporate investments in low-carbon technologies and thus need more attention in designing the national ETS, including allowance allocation for existing installations, compliance period, allowance allocation for new entrants, allowance banking and policy stability. From the viewpoint of the surveyed companies, the ETS that allocates allowances for existing installations based on the benchmark, has a long compliance period, allocates allowances for new entrants based on a uniform benchmark and allows companies to bank allowances could effectively encourage companies to conduct the low-carbon technological investment. The results of this study are important in light of ongoing discussions and developments of the national ETS in China. [Display omitted] • This paper examines the innovation influencing mechanism of ETS design features and other determinants. • Data were collected from 99 companies in the eight areas that are implementing ETS in China. • The policy attributes significantly associated with corporate low-carbon technology investment decisions are identified. • We also identify the determinants that are closely related with low-carbon technology investment decisions. • Policy implications for designing the national ETS are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenges of sustainable development require whole supply chains and networks to drive change and innovation. However, most existing research on sustainable innovations is on a company level and the dominating company focus in practice drives "silo" approaches, short-term thinking, and profit maximization. Consequently, there is a need for research and new models that facilitate sustainable supply chain innovations. The purpose of this paper is to identify, categorize, and evaluate the importance of critical factors for the realization of sustainable supply chain innovation, and to contribute with a process model for the development of sustainable supply chain innovation. A systematic literature review and content analysis of relevant sustainable supply chain innovation literature were performed in five steps starting with (1) question formulation followed by (2) locating studies, (3) selection and evaluation, (4) analysis and synthesis, and (5) reporting and using the results. The analysis resulted in 14 main categories of critical factors. Collaboration is by far the most frequently observed main category, followed by strategic orientation, culture, practices, and political context. The paper contributes with a process model for the realization of sustainable supply chain innovation. The process model is based on a design-thinking model for innovation where the critical factors are integrated into different spaces for innovation. In practice, the model could provide managers with the most critical factors for sustainable supply chain innovation, and could provide advice on when and how to manage these factors during the innovation process. The critical factors and the process model proposed could guide further research, enabling such research to adopt more complex approaches to the development of improved guidance, and provide support for the realization of sustainable development. • Critical factors for sustainable supply chain innovation are identified. • Collaboration, strategic orientation, culture, and political context are found to be the most emphasized critical factors. • A process model is provided for the design and realization of sustainable supply chain innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to explore the joint effects of quality and environmental management on firms’ innovation by addressing the role of knowledge transfer. While previous research has focused on the direct contribution of quality and environmental management to performance outcomes, to the best of our knowledge there has been no research aimed at understanding their joint effect on innovation. Furthermore, we have included knowledge transfer in order to better explain this impact. From 136 questionnaires completed by companies operating in Tunisia, interesting results were generated through structural equation modelling. Both quality and environmental management, which are related, positively influence knowledge transfer and innovation. In addition, knowledge transfer contributes positively to innovation. Overall, our findings show that knowledge transfer has a positive role in the combined impact of quality and environmental management on innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1972, for the first time, the term “sustainable development” was coined at the Stockholm conference, and in 1987, the Brundtland report established the sustainability-innovation “binomial”. Since then, extensive research into sustainability-oriented innovation has been conducted, focused during the last decade on SMEs and recognizing these as the main actor of sustainable development, for which foreign direct investment (FDI) is considered, from a research and institutional point of view, as a vital source, although academic literature presents conflicting conclusions. In this context, this paper aims to perform a microeconomic analysis of how FDI influences the innovative process of SMEs and how this can lead to a process oriented towards sustainability. To this end, a panel of 4667 SMEs has been analyzed, spanning a sample period between 2004 and 2013, through a binary logit model, which compares and contrasts SMEs with FDI and equivalent SMEs without FDI, over time and, therefore, exposed to a changing economy. The most significant results are that FDI is attracted mainly by factors associated with technological supply, which, when coupled with being of medium size and located in a manufacturing sector of medium-high technology, generates positive spillovers. These depend, to a large extent, on public funding, which allows these companies to be more innovative and makes it more likely they focus their innovative process on sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the link between innovation and sustainability in the context of higher education, with the purpose of investigating the fundamental barriers for innovation and sustainable development in universities around the world. The method used involves both a quantitative and a qualitative approach, gathering the views of 301 experts from 172 universities across all continents. The results show that there are similar barriers across different geographical regions that require greater support from university administrations and management. In particular, the willingness of leaders, policy makers and decision-makers to envisage a sustainable future inside universities is often missing. Yet, without the support of senior management within a university, bottom-up sustainable initiatives seem destined to fail in the longer term due to a lack of investment and administrative support. This study also identifies that in order to yield the anticipated benefits, the challenges listed should be taken seriously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A DEA-RAM model is adopted to study the unified efficiency of innovation’s green performance in 29 sectors of China’s manufacturing industry over the period of 2005–2012 in this paper. This study provides evidences that innovation in China’s manufacturing industry shows a shift to green innovation and contributes increasingly to green growth. However, the lag in the environmental efficiency remains a major constrain for improving innovation’s green performance of China. A significant regional disparity exists in the unified efficiency between western and eastern areas of China. The gap in the unified efficiency tends to increase across regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Finnish construction business, innovation management is considered to be difficult. However, cultural transition towards more innovative and creative thinking in construction industry can have vital impact on sustainability nationally and globally. There is an urgent need to examine at a more detailed level innovativeness in the construction companies and especially the manager's abilities to manage innovative organizational culture. It appears that lacks in managing culture and people with difficulties to understand key elements of innovativeness in organizational context seems to be a barrier towards increased innovativeness. The main finding is that the managers in construction industry cannot manage or create culture towards innovativeness. Therefore, there is major sector level lacks in innovativeness that have negative impact on societal change towards sustainability. This paper focus on managing organizational culture to reveal innovativeness in the case company that is vital for sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability research has witnessed significant growth over the past three decades, owing to the multiplicity of concerns and innovations to address them. Fake news, on the other hand, is a growing challenge to this dynamic narrative about sustainability and associated innovations. Notwithstanding few attempts to glean insights from literature at the nexus of sustainability, concomitant innovations, and fake news, the current study undertakes an integrative literature review with the objective of comprehending the repertoire of interactions between fake news, concomitant acts of deception, and sustainability-focused innovations. The review yielded 81 research articles published between 1992 and 2022. This collection represents a highly heterogeneous body of work encompassing these dimensions wherein comprehensive frameworks are rare and empirical works have focused on a limited range of innovations and fake news. The paper organizes the extant literature across four key themes and identifies five crucial gaps that have remained underexplored to date. Based on gaps in the literature, a research agenda with a set of thematic pathways and a holistic conceptual framework is presented to serve as a foundation for advancing research in the domain. This study is one of the first attempts to shed light on the menace of fake news in the context of sustainability-focused innovations and provides the necessary impetus for researchers to investigate empirical relationships and causal mechanisms surrounding the triadic nature of interlinkages between sustainability concerns, associated innovations, and fake news. The insights from this study aid practitioners in evaluating innovations from a novel vantage point and devising strategies to navigate potential pitfalls, while also serving as crucial evidence for policymakers to leverage an optimal mix of policy levers to circumvent sustainability concerns and foster innovations amidst the looming crisis of fake news. • The threat of fake news in the context of sustainability and related innovations is a growing concern. • The phenomenon has evoked scholarly interest but is progressing without a strong theoretical foundation. • An integrative review of literature is conducted to holistically map its current intellectual boundaries. • Four thematic focal points and five crucial gaps in the literature are discussed. • A conceptual framework is proposed with set of themes to guide future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analyse institutional conditions facilitating the transition towards a green economy by encouraging investment in the enhancement of natural capital and social equity, focussing especially on government interventions. Presenting a conceptual institutional model how innovation generally occurs, we depict system levels that can be influenced by government interventions to facilitate societal innovations towards a green economy. We hypothesize that the transition to a green economy is about extending the possibility frontier outwards towards a greener economy while at the same time limiting the “action space” at the brown economy end; a normative evaluation framework is presented to assess transitions correspondingly. We elaborate on the emerging lessons for governance by examining evidence from five selected European case studies, and provide a non-exhaustive list of impacts that government intervention may have on the action spaces available at different system levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the urgency of achieving net-zero emissions for climate stabilization, a deeper holistic knowledge of the key factors driving green industry, an emerging industrial strategy to build net-zero economies through sustainable production and consumption, is of growing relevance. The existing literature is fragmented into heterogeneous factors of green industry and a systematic review on the topic is lacking. This study aims to fill this gap by synthesizing the growing multidisciplinary literature on the driving factors of green industry by addressing a set of research questions. It has reviewed 211 peer-reviewed articles and 16 grey literatures published from 2009 to July 2022. A systematic review methodology is employed by defining research questions, a search strategy, search terms, databases, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and a synthesis strategy. A holistic factors framework has been constructed to discuss the results that can be used in evaluating green industrial growth strategies for net-zero economy. The study finds six key literature gaps that have theoretical and practical implications for future research. Firstly, potential threats (delayed decoupling, inequality, green extractivism, and stranded assets) identified in this review demand extensive studies that might contribute to a successful green transition toward net-zero emissions. Secondly, primary factors underpinning green industry are heterogeneous, fragmented, and less considered under the rubric of 'green industry', which require holistic frameworks and systems thinking to study. Thirdly, the literature focuses on the growth-environmental dilemma, overlooking social structures where green industry is embedded in, and the social implications must be considered with a focus on industrial inclusion. Fourthly, theoretical underpinnings of green industry evolve around green growth and degrowth that take distinct stands in challenging economic growth model to achieve net-zero emissions, but their theoretical claims and practical methods are highly contested, and their relationship and implications within different contexts of economies demand further research. Fifthly, the literature evolved globally, but primarily concentrated on China, and regional, provincial, and local perspectives are scant. Finally, the reviewed papers typically employ quantitative methods and few qualitative and mixed methods involving fieldwork. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides new understanding on how intermediary actors support the adoption of renewable electricity technology. While intermediaries complement each other in different phases of the process, there are also gaps and overlaps in the support that they provide. Results indicate that there is a great need of improving the communication among intermediaries and of a higher level of coordination among the tasks performed. Fostering the widespread adoption of renewable energy technologies is one of the most important drivers to limit the irreversible consequences of global warming that the world is facing today. However, the process of adopting such innovations is often complex and challenging. Previous studies have recognized the crucial role of intermediaries in facilitating the adoption process. Yet, little is known about how different intermediaries support the various adoption process phases, which intermediary type does what, and whether there are support gaps or overlaps among them. The authors of this paper contribute to previous research on innovation adoption and innovation intermediaries based upon research on the adoption context of renewable energy technologies in Sweden. They gathered secondary data and semi-structured interviews with nineteen intermediaries who support the adoption process of renewable energy technologies. The finding of this paper has implications on policy design, with regard, to how intermediaries can better perform in a technology diffusion context and to how intermediaries can be coordinated to provide better services during the different phases of the adoption process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments often turn to subsidies to boost enterprises' innovation activities, which gives subsidized enterprises room for allocating the subsidies among different innovation activities. Taking insights from institutional logic theory, this paper proposes that enterprises exhibit different subsidy-allocation behaviors between nongreen and green innovations and that the positive effect of subsidies on nongreen innovation is greater than that on green innovation due to the double-spillover problem that is pertinent to green innovation. Further, this paper argues that innovation intensity varies from privately-owned enterprises to local and central state-owned enterprises and that the underlying reason for this phenomenon is that enterprises with different ownership structures behave with different institutional logics, face different environmental and innovation pressures, and hold different innovative resource and capability endowments. We test these hypotheses by using longitudinal data (2010–2015) on 175 publicly-traded firms in the pharmaceutical industry in China. Overall, the results support most of the hypotheses. • The effects of governmental subsidies on green and nongreen innovations were examined. • The moderating role of ownership types between innovation subsidies and green/nongreen innovation was examined. • Five-year panel data from 175 publicly traded Chinese pharmaceutical firms were used to test the hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the increasing concern about sustainability issues in society, graduates and postgraduates going into the labour market benefit from the inclusion of sustainability contents in university studies. Visibility of these contents is gained towards a potential employer if they are explicitly mentioned in the university degree title. This is the first paper to explore this trend. More precisely, the purpose of this study is to find explanatory causal combinations of factors for this trend in the Spanish setting. The methodological approach of this paper is based on fuzzy sets. More precisely, it follows fuzzy-sets Qualitative Comparative Analysis, which is an innovative approach in the field of Higher Education yet a consolidated method in Sociology, Marketing or Management studies. This new methodology is well suited for rather limited sample sizes. The findings obtained reveal several causal combinations of internal and strategic factors leading to innovation in university degree catalogues by means of making visible the sustainable focus in the title of the university degrees. According to the results obtained, the public status, prestige and the sustainable profile adequately combined with some other characteristics (for instance large size or age) explain this phenomenon. This article uses an innovative methodological approach and makes a valuable contribution as it identifies the factors behind the early adopters, i.e. universities covering this "green niche" in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper puts forward the Circular Strategies Scanner: a framework that introduces a taxonomy of circular strategies developed for use by manufacturing companies engaging in circular economy (CE) oriented innovation. Currently, a range of frameworks exists that propose a vision for how to operate in a CE, by identifying and organising relevant circular strategies. However, these frameworks have a limited applicability for specific business types, in particular manufacturing, and are unsuitable for use in CE oriented innovation, due to a lacking ability to support innovation processes through: 1) creating a comprehensive understanding of circular strategies, 2) mapping strategies currently applied and 3) finding opportunities for improved circularity across a range of business processes. This paper addresses these shortcomings by proposing a circular strategies framework for the manufacturing context, titled the Circular Strategies Scanner, which provides a comprehensive set of definitions of circular strategies and directly supports the early stages of CE oriented innovation. With this, the paper contributes to the body of work that develops CE transition methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]