Several tools exist at the European and international level to stimulate the development and uptake of green technologies and eco-innovation, for instance policies aiming to reduce emissions from the transport sector, regulation bearing on industrial plants and processes (such as Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control – IPPC), initiatives focusing on energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy, and broader frameworks such as the European Technology Action Plan (ETAP).
IEEP has carried out various studies investigating the potential for eco-innovation, the effect of greener technologies on employment, and the implications of a ‘green new deal’ for the economy, the environment and society.
Some of our key work includes the following:
In 2007 and 2008 we prepared a report on Environment and Innovation in a Global Economy which fed into a broader OECD study. The study provided an overview of eco-innovation as a process and the policies supporting it, and our work focused on the analysis of eco-innovation initiatives in Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Turkey, and the USA.
In 2004 we conducted several studies assessing the impacts of CO2 emissions from cars, including a contract for DG Environment on a business impact assessment of measures to reduce CO2 from passenger cars. With partners we looked at the potential role of technical standards, mechanisms for grouping of and trading between manufacturers and their relative economic, environmental and consumer impacts.
A study for DG Environment undertaken by the Institute and partners in 2006-07 examined the Links between the environment, economy and jobs in Europe. It provided estimates of the number of jobs and related level of GDP and economic activity that are dependant on the environment in Europe, and the factors behind these links. The study covered all economic activities for which the environment is an input into production or an output to the market.
Between 2004 and 2006 IEEP contributed to the project Policy pathways to promote the development and adoption of cleaner technologies, co-funded by DG Research and Defra (the UK environment ministry). The study focused on the EU Environmental Technology Action Plan (ETAP) and explored the barriers to the development and uptake of clean technologies in Europe leading to an analysis of the policies to encourage their use in the transport, energy, industrial, household and agricultural sectors. IEEP developed recommendations on the choice of policies and policy instruments (including subsidies, taxes/charges, emission trading, labelling and others) best able to help encourage the appropriate uptake of clean technologies in each sector.
Focussing more on the national level was a study on the potential contribution of the federal authorities in Belgium to the development of an integrated policy in the field of eco-innovation. A range of potentially effective policies in support of eco-innovation were examined in depth and recommendations for the Belgian Government made.
The New Climate Policies of the European Union (Eds Sebastian Oberthür and Marc Pallemaerts, VUB Press). See chapter: Mitigating CO2 Emissions from Cars in the EU (Regulation (EC) No 443/2009) by Patrick ten Brink.
