This paper examines the determinants of eco‐innovation strategy in Spanish manufacturing firms. Using panel data of 3,201 Spanish firms for the period 2008–14, we specify a dynamic random probit model controlling for sample selection. The empirical results confirm that public regulations and R&D efforts encourage firms to place eco‐innovation activities among their strategic priorities, although subsidies are not found to be a distinctive driver. Furthermore, we find that eco‐innovation is highly persistent at the firm level, past eco‐innovation behavior being clearly of key importance in explaining the current state of a firm's eco‐innovation orientation. In contrast, market factors are not found to be a key driver for eco‐innovative firms.

The concept of the circular economy (CE) is currently gaining impetus as a way to move towards sustainable, low‐carbon, resource‐efficient, and competitive economies. However, despite the potential benefits of CE activities, their implementation remains relatively rare. We use a cross‐sectional survey of European small and medium‐sized firms (SMEs) to identify the main barriers firms face to promote the CE, focusing specifically on the following: those related to a lack of resources (human and financial) and capabilities (expertise) and those related to the regulatory framework (administrative procedures and the costs of meeting the regulations). Our results indicate that it is the complexity of administrative/legal procedures and the costs of meeting regulations/legal standards that constitute the most significant barriers, whereas the lack of human resources is also perceived to be an obstacle by firms engaged in CE activities. Those obstacles may be considered revealed barriers, and it is only when the firms become involved in these activities that they actually perceive them. Furthermore, when we consider the breadth of CE activities, administrative procedures and regulations once again emerge as the most significant obstacles. Finally, we stress the need to distinguish between different CE activities given that the perception of barriers differs substantially across these activities. Firms undertaking a disruptive innovation redesigning products and services to minimize the use of materials are more likely to perceive all barriers as important. However, firms implementing such activities as minimizing waste, replanning energy usage, and using renewable energy only perceive those obstacles related to administrative procedures and regulations.

Although environmental innovation studies have traditionally focused on manufacturing firms, the distinctive features of eco‐innovation activities carried out by service firms require special attention. Using the Spanish Commumity Innovation Survey (CIS), this paper determines which are the main drivers of undertaking eco‐innovation and investigates the similarities and differences between service and manufacturing firms within the five sub‐groups of services (supplier dominated, scale intensive physical networks, scale intensive information networks, science‐based, and others). The results confirm that the main eco‐innovation triggers are similar—technological push factor orientation (internal R&D and persistence) and firm size—while the impact of market pull factors and public environmental legislation differ within the services sub‐groups. In addition, we find a high degree of heterogeneity within service firms. In contrast to traditional service firms, those in the groups involving R&D activities, information networks, and scale‐intensive physical networks exhibit intensive eco‐innovation performance and show a high level of green indicators.

This paper empirically investigates the factors driving the adoption of energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy (RE) measures in a sample of 8,213 Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in European countries. Using a bivariate probit model we examine their drivers, complementarities, and potential temporal persistence in three European country clusters (Core countries, Mediterranean countries and New EU members). Our results suggest that sustainable energies actions (EE and RE) are highly persistent both at the firm level and across countries and that there are relevant complementarities between EE and RE practices, as well as other resource efficient practices. In addition, strategies for EE seem to rely more on cost saving and regulations, while those for RE are more linked to public support and environmental awareness. This paper ends with some recommendations for policymakers suggesting that Europe needs to design an energy policy for the SMEs firms that jointly pursues both EE and the diffusion of RE according to the technological gap of each member country.

This study investigates the effects of eco-efficiency actions on firm performance in terms of sales growth in an extensive sample of 11,336 small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) located in 28 European countries. Our empirical results suggest that not all eco-strategies are positively related to better performance, at least not in the short term. We found that European companies using renewable energies, and recycling or designing products that are easier to maintain, repair, or reuse, perform better. Those that aim to reduce water or energy pollution, however, seemed to show a negative correlation to firm growth. Our results also indicate that high investment in eco-strategies improves firm growth, particularly in new members that joined the EU from 2004 onwards. Finally, we observed a U-shaped relationship between eco-strategies and firm growth, which indicates that a greater breadth of eco-strategies is associated with better firm performance. However, few European SMEs are able to either invest heavily or undertake multiple eco-strategies, thus leaving room for policy interventions.

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This paper highlights the importance of approaching the energy poverty problem considering the income perspective. This approach is based on the economic analysis of the relationship between energy poverty, energy consumption and elements linked to household income. Robust conclusions are presented from the empirical analysis of statistical data to quantify and diagnose the problem of energy poverty in Spain, using econometric tools. Likewise, the relative importance of household income in the energy poverty problem is evaluated. The results reinforce the idea that energy poverty should be addressed, preferably, through the general social protection system, and that mechanisms to protect vulnerable consumers should be developed within the framework of the general welfare system. Conclusions emphasize the need for a profound deliberation on how to address energy poverty with cross-cutting public policies that, in addition to the elements directly linked to energy policy, act on the main determinants of energy poverty, fundamentally linked, directly or indirectly, to the income of households.

Theoretical and empirical approaches have stressed the existence of financial constraints in firms' innovative activities. Although a large number of innovation projects are abandoned before their completion, the empirical evidence has focused on the determinants of innovation while failed projects have received little attention. This paper analyses the role of financial obstacles on the likelihood of abandoning an innovation project by using panel data of potential innovative Spanish firms for the period 2005-2013. Our analysis differentiates between internal and external barriers on the probability of abandoning a project and we examine whether the effects are different depending on the stage of the innovation process. Controlling for potential endogeneity, we use a bivariate probit model to take into account the simultaneity of financial constraints and the decision to abandon an innovation project. Our results show that financial constraints most affect the probability of abandoning an innovation project during the concept stage.