Exploring energy transition in European firms: the role of policy instruments, demand-pull factors and cost-saving needs in driving energy-efficient and renewable energy innovations
Claudia Capozza, Marialuisa Divella, Alessandro Rubino
Abstract
The transition toward more efficient and sustainable energy systems relies on the introduction by firms of innovations aimed at reducing the energy-environmental impact. In this paper, controlling for firms’ technological capabilities and taking into account the role of specific policy instruments, demand-pull factors and firms’ cost-saving needs, we carry out an in-depth analysis of the drivers motivating firms’ decision to engage in two main types of energy innovations, energy-efficient and renewable energy innovations, as compared to other environmental technologies. The empirical evidence, provided by using firm-level data from the Community Innovation Survey for different European countries, highlights the key role of firms’ cost saving needs as a motivation driving the introduction of both types of energy innovations, as well as of governmental subsidies and public procurement though only for renewable energy innovations. The influence of demand-pull factors is instead transversal between energy innovations and other eco-innovations.