Chatzistamoulou, N and Tyllianakis, E orcid.org/0000-0002-8604-4770 (2022) Commitment of European SMEs to resource efficiency actions to achieve sustainability transition. A feasible reality or an elusive goal? Journal of Environmental Management, 321. 115937. ISSN 0301-4797
Abstract
The European Union has built an interdependent framework to promote sustainability transition through commitment in resource efficiency (RE) actions as echoed in the European Green Deal. Although the factors affecting firms' decision to adopt a green strategy have been extensively explored, those affecting commitment remain unexplored. Thus, we study whether commitment of European SMEs to RE actions fosters sustainability transition and, what drives such commitment. Data includes more than 37,000 European SMEs from 2013 through 2017, combined with country-specific characteristics explored via a probit model with sample selection. Findings indicate that during the study period there has been a change in the structure of incentives of the firms, as in the beginning of the period, adoption of RE actions and future engagement were considered as independent decisions. We document that commitment is driven RE enhancers such as the implementation of new technological paradigms, cooperation, and specialized business advice while resource productivity, green energy, and competitiveness further foster commitment. Findings advocate that commitment in RE actions to achieve sustainability transition is a feasible reality. Efforts of policymakers should focus on further enabling RE committed firms by reducing policy red tape.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Sustainability transition; Green growth; Resource efficiency enhancers & barriers; Commitment; SMEs; European green deal |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 19 Oct 2022 11:03 |
Last Modified: | 19 Oct 2022 11:03 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115937 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:191712 |