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This article evaluates the impact of two nudges on stimulating the use of doggy bags in restaurants. We run a field experiment at 14 restaurants in the province of Turin (Italy). In the first group of restaurants, we manipulated the descriptive social norm. In a second group we changed the default option - whereby customers asked for the doggy bag - by instead directing the waiter to automatically deliver the doggy bag unless told not to. A third group of restaurants was used as a control with no intervention. We find that the social norm intervention led to a sizeable increase in the use of doggy bags, while the default manipulation had a non-statistically significant impact.

Cette etude se concentre sur les performances environnementales de l’industrie manufacturiere europeenne. Notre objectif est de tester l’existence de β -convergence, absolue et conditionnelle, ainsi que la convergence σ de la productivite environnementale (c’est-a-dire, pour chaque secteur, rapport entre valeur ajoutee et emissions de dioxyde de carbone) de 14 secteurs pour la periode 1995-2009 en utilisant la base de donnees WIOD. Les resultats soutiennent l’hypothese de la β -convergence et mettent en evidence d’autres facteurs tels que l’ouverture commerciale. Enfin, les resultats i ndiquent que la valeur ajoutee sectorielle peut affecter les performances environnementales, comme l’acceleration de convergence. Aucune preuve statistique de σ -convergence n’est trouvee.

This paper reviews the literature on environmental innovation (EI) and systematizes it by means of an original methodology identifying the main directions in which the literature on EI has developed over time. In order to do so, two algorithms are adopted and used to analyze a citation network of journal articles and books. The main path analysis reveals that this literature revolves around the following topics: i) determinants of EI; ii) economic effects of EI; iii) environmental effects of EI; and iv) policy inducement in EI. Each of these topics is discussed and implications from the main findings as well as possible future research extensions are outlined.

This chapter investigates waste policies that may affect individuals’ behaviour towards waste minimization and recycling. Both market base mechanisms, as unit-based pricing for unsorted waste, and technical policies, as adoption of curbside or drop-off systems are considered. The strength and weakness of each mechanism as drivers of people’s waste-related behaviours are highlighted.

This chapter, finally, considers both motivations and waste policies as determinants of people’s waste-related behaviour, with a specific focus on recycling. It analyses how waste collection policies can incentivize household recycling behaviours and whether individual motivations are capable of crowding-in policy efficacies, especially when the efforts required by agents are high. We exploit a new survey of 618 Italian families that reports information on the opinions and stated actual recycling behaviours of the respondents with respect to five different waste materials. The results of our empirical analysis show that collection policies oriented at reducing time opportunity costs increase household recycling behaviours, and it is extremely relevant that policies are efficiently managed, lest discouraging effects occur. Moreover, individual motivations matter and may overcome possible weaknesses in waste policies, for example, by reducing the negative effects of ‘distance’ between households and recycling centres.

This chapter investigates the correlation between individual motivation and households’ waste minimization and recycling. Individuals act based upon intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the first one being something that comes from within the person itself and the second being conditioned on the receiving of an external reward. We aim to assess if one type of motivation is more correlated with one of the two behaviours (minimization and recycling) or the other. Using Eurobarometer data, we note that extrinsic motivation has a higher effect on sorting habits than on minimization behaviour while the reverse is true for intrinsic motivation. Conversely, intrinsic motivation plays a major role in prevention and for the recycling of particular kind of wastes such as hazardous waste.

This chapter is devoted to the analysis of individuals’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations behind pro-social behaviours, focusing particularly on the waste management context. Drivers different from the pecuniary ones are considered to incentivize people to undertake waste reduction and recycling. The possible interrelationships between the two waste management behaviours are investigated and some field experiment studies have been reported that contribute to a better understanding of the motivations that lead people to adopt pro-social behaviour in the waste realm.

Available online 24 August 2018 This paper investigates empirically the relationship between individual motivations and recycling and minimisation behaviours. Exploiting an original survey of 618 Italian households, we conducted a cluster analysis on individual motivations to identify the main motivation groups among respondents. In a second step, we used these clusters as independent variables in a simple regression framework to test their correlation with recycling and minimisation variables. Overall, the results show that recycling behaviour does not correlate with individual motivations, while waste minimisation seems to be associated with intrinsic motivation only.

Eco-innovation plays a crucial role in reducing carbon emissions. Exploiting the consolidated IPAT/STIRPAT framework, this paper studies whether a relationship exists between green technological change (measured as stock of green patent) and both CO2 emissions and emission efficiency (CO2/VA). To investigate this relation, a rich panel covering 95 Italian provinces from 1990 to 2010 is exploited. The main regression results suggest that green technology has not yet played a significant role in promoting environmental protection, although it improved significantly environmental productivity. Notably, this result is not driven by regional differences, and the main evidence is consistent among different areas of the country.

a b s t r a c t In this study we investigate the EU's economic, environmental and innovation performances from a sector-based perspective. We correlate the various sectors' performances, taking into account the role of changing specialization. In addition, we examine environmental sector performance related factors through a shift-share decomposition analysis. We show that wide divergences exist regarding environmental, economic and innovation performances among the EU countries. The leading role of Germany emerges, with strong underpinnings in its economic specialization, rooted in manufacturing. France excels in some services, while Italy suffers. Germany and Sweden present the most win-win economic-environmental sector performances. Our investigation illustrates how economic and environmental performances can potentially be effec- tively interrelated. Examples of integrated innovation-economic-environmental performances appear. Nevertheless, the sector view highlights that the foundations of macro performance rely on various ele- ments related to structural change and innovation. Further research could investigate how composition effects and innovation changes correlate towards the achievement of sustainable economic development.

Industrial development has always been seen as the main engine for economic growth due to its large economic multiplier and technological opportunities. However, manufacturing sectors are directly and indirectly responsible for a large share of overall environmental pressures, raising concerns for the environmental sustainability of manufacturing-based development. In this paper we evaluate the drivers and decoupling trends of environmental pressures arising (directly or indirectly) from manufacturing production and consumption for a large selection of developed and developing countries. As a first step we decompose changes in emission intensity of manufacturing sectors into a series of components by means of a shift- share analysis to identify the main drivers of change. A second step will compare direct environmental pressures generated by manufacturing sectors (production perspective) with the amount of emissions generated (domestically and abroad) by the domestic consumption of manufacturing goods (production perspective). Finally, we evaluate the possible emergence of an EKC dynamics for production and consumption perspective emissions for the world as a whole and for different continents.

This paper reviews the literature on environmental innovation (EI) and systematizes it by means of an original methodology identifying the main directions in which the literature on EI has developed over time. In order to do so, two algorithms are adopted and used to analyze a citation network of journal articles and books. The main path analysis reveals that this literature revolves around the following topics: i) determinants of EI; ii) economic effects of EI; iii) environmental effects of EI; and iv) policy inducement in EI. Each of these topics is discussed and implications from the main findings as well as possible future research extensions are outlined.

The paper investigates the effectiveness and efficiency of energy environmental policy interactions in Italy, adopting a broad optimality perspective that includes policy feasibility and dynamic efficiency. The analysis highlights that though some complementarity among different policies exists, climate policies have been often undermined by energy and renewables policy. Nevertheless, some complementarities between policy landscapes are found, as in the case of the Kyoto Fund (climate policy) and of the incentives and funding towards thermal energy, both acting as a complementary tool to cover non EU - ETS sectors. Overall, renewables oriented policies bring about efficacy but this often occurs at the expenses of their efficiency, thus generating a trade-off between these two components of optimality. Finally, incentives remuneration of renewables and also Energy efficiency investments give a mixed signal to improve innovation and to stimulate the green sector. In conclusion, notwithstanding efficacy is present in some case, cost effectiveness and efficiency are far from being optimal, and It would be better to provide a clear and durable price signal using carbon taxation tools

Eco-innovation plays a crucial role in reducing carbon emissions. Exploiting the consolidated IPAT / STIRPAT framework, this paper studies whether a relationship exists between green technological change and both CO2 emissions and emission efficiency (CO2/VA), exploiting a rich panel covering 95 Italian provinces from 1990-2010. The main regression results suggest that green technology has not yet played a significant role in promoting environmental protection, although it significantly improved significantly environmental productivity. Notably, this result is not driven by regional differences, and the main evidence is consistent among different areas of the country.

Innovation is a key element behind the achievement of desired environmental and economic performances. Regarding CO2, mitigation strategies would require cuts in emissions of around 80–90% with respect to 1990 by 2050 in the EU. We investigate whether complementarity, namely integration, between the adoption of environmental innovation measures and other technological and organizational innovations is a factor that has supported reduction in CO2 emissions per value added, that is environmental productivity. We merge new EU innovation and WIOD data to assess the innovation effects on sector CO2 performances at a wide EU level. We find that jointly adopting different innovations is not a widespread factor behind increases in environmental productivity. Nevertheless, even though complementarity is not a low hanging fruit, a case where ‘innovation complementarity’ arises is for manufacturing sectors that integrate eco-innovations with product innovations. One example of this integrated action is a strategy that pursues energy efficiency with product value enhancement. We believe that the lack of integrated innovation adoption behind environmental productivity performance is a signal of the current weaknesses economies face in tackling climate change and green economy challenges. Incremental rather than more radical strategies have predominated so far. The latter have been confined to industrial ‘niches’, in terms of the number of involved firms. This is probably insufficient when we look at long-term economic and environmental goals.

The paper investigates the extent to which the adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by firms affects the likelihood of adopting environmental innovations (EI). We also test empirically whether various types of ICT adoption and other innovation practices (R&D, techno-organizational change) are complementary inputs with respect to the introduction of specific environmental innovations. The analysis is based on two different data sources, which offer various views on ICT and EI relationships. The first draws upon the ICT and environmental innovations information contained in the EU Community Innovation Survey (CIS), the other on an original CIS like survey focusing on a large Italian industrial region, Emilia-Romagna. This survey contains information on the adoption of environmental innovations and some detailed information on ICT issues and other technological-organizational processes. We find that ICT adoption is robustly and positively correlated to EI in the EU. In addition, complementarity is characterizing the relationship between ICT and other innovation processes as a force behind EI, but it is not to be taken for granted. In fact, it appears a robust empirical fact with regard to general innovation capacity (R&D and ICT), though when we narrow down the focus to specific techno-organizational innovations, complementarity with ICT is rarely a pillar firm’s green strategies. Further research might focus on the complementarity between ICT and EI as an ‘asset’ promoting higher economic performances.