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Eco-Innovation for Sustainability: Evidence from 49 Countries in Asia and Europe

Author

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  • Jang-Hwan Jo

    (Department of Forest Sciences, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Korea)

  • Tae Woo Roh

    (Department of International Trade and Commerce, Soonchunhyang University, 22 Soonchunhyangro, Shinchang-myeon, Asan-si, Chungcheongnam-do 336-745, Korea)

  • Seonghoon Kim

    (Graduate School of Business, Seoul National University, Gwanakro 1, Gwanakgu, Seoul 08826, Korea)

  • Yeo-Chang Youn

    (Department of Forest Sciences & Research Institute for Agriculture and Life Science, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Korea)

  • Mi Sun Park

    (Interdisciplinary Program in Global Environmental Management, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Korea)

  • Ki Joo Han

    (EcoServices Consulting Co., Ltd., 3rd FL, 125 Ogeum-ro, Songpa-gu, Seoul 138-050, Korea)

  • Eun Kyung Jang

    (EcoServices Consulting Co., Ltd., 3rd FL, 125 Ogeum-ro, Songpa-gu, Seoul 138-050, Korea)

Abstract

Following the trend on focusing on a nation’s economic-growth, side effects such as resource exhaustion, environmental pollution, and social injustice have begun to appear. As a solution, eco-innovation has received a great amount of attention from European countries and as a result, many efforts to analyze the development of eco-innovation quantitatively have been made. This study aims to evaluate the validity of an eco-innovation index developed to support the sustainable development goal. For this purpose, four factors of eco-innovation—capacity, supportive environment, activity, and performance—were applied to three categories of the Triple-Bottom-Line (TBL) concept in sustainability to compare the eco-innovation development level of 49 Asia-Europe Meeting countries. Factors for eco-innovation and TBL at the country level were organized in quartile and compared to see strength and weaknesses for each nation. In order to test if eco-innovation factors of a nation adequately reflect its sustainability, we used various comparisons of ANOVA. The results of this study are as follows: First, the one-way ANOVA tests present the scores for capacity, supportive environment, and performance as grouped into four quartiles in the same pattern as their economic, social, and environmental scores. The three-way ANOVA tests showed significance for the economic category. Scores for capacity, supportive environment, activity and performance were significant at a nation’s economic level. Lastly, the MANOVA test revealed that TBL significantly explains four eco-innovation factors. In addition, the eco-innovation performance level of European nations and Asian nations were compared. The possibility that many nations still have room to be competitive in their eco-innovation efforts was identified. Nations with unbalanced eco-innovation growth are urged to implement new strategies to balance their growth. Therefore, this research contributes to extending research on eco-innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Jang-Hwan Jo & Tae Woo Roh & Seonghoon Kim & Yeo-Chang Youn & Mi Sun Park & Ki Joo Han & Eun Kyung Jang, 2015. "Eco-Innovation for Sustainability: Evidence from 49 Countries in Asia and Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(12), pages 1-16, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:12:p:15849-16835:d:60957
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    2. Păcesilă, Mihaela & Ciocoiu, Carmen Nadia, 2017. "Eco-Innovation and its Determinants: A Review of the Emerging Literature," Proceedings of the ENTRENOVA - ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion Conference (2017), Dubrovnik, Croatia, in: Proceedings of the ENTRENOVA - ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion Conference, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 7-9 September 2017, pages 134-144, IRENET - Society for Advancing Innovation and Research in Economy, Zagreb.
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    5. Mi Sun Park & Raimund Bleischwitz & Ki Joo Han & Eun Kyung Jang & Ji Hyung Joo, 2017. "Eco-Innovation Indices as Tools for Measuring Eco-Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-28, November.
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