Enviroment Weblog

 Eco-efficiency innovation contributes to company competitiveness in at least four ways:

1.  Operational advantages thanks to greater resource efficiency resulting in lower resource costs.

2.  Commercialisation of the innovation.

3.  Reduced environmental costs of pollution control and waste management

4.  Improvements in image, marketing and stakeholder relations

 

Eco-efficiency innovation helps society to grow and prosper and achieve environmental improvements. Eco-efficiency should be an important competitive strategy of the European economy and — with high-level business and government support — could even become a EU trademark, recognised by customers and other stakeholders. No cost barriers are preventing this from happening; eco-efficiency in fact helps to reduce manufacturing costs and environmental costs while yielding a positive value to companies. In the knowledge economy, reputation values are more important, becoming part of the bottom line. Eco-efficiency and responsible behaviour require attention, capability, knowledge, markets recognising environmentally responsible behaviour, and governments rewarding good environmental behaviour.

 

      Eco-efficiency depends on companies becoming pro-active-seeking improvements on their own as a part of their competitive strategies rather than in response to specific regulations. This does not happen of its own, despite some stimulate for it. Making companies pro-active requires change at multiple levels: the government-business relationship has to change, producers and costumers must develop new competences and the economic frame conditions have to change too. It is a political challenge as much as it is a challenge for business. It calls for partnership between companies, between governments and departments (willing to learn from each other) and between companies and government.

 

 

      How to make eco-innovation a competitive strategy in the knowledge economy?

 

 

 

 

 

       

This is not one strategy buy many of them, which are grouped in 6 categories

 

1.      Making companies proactive

2.      Improving sustainability assessment by companies and customers

3.      Improving the system of innovation for eco-innovation

4.      Targeted policies for eco-innovations

5.      The use of market-based instruments

6.      Policy integration