Eco-innovation Action Plan Newsletter

In 2009, the OECD organised a global forum on eco-innovation at which experts in the then nascent field discussed how industry can do a better job at ‘innovating’ its way towards a greener planet, supported by insightful policies and tools. A decade later, the Eco-Innovation Observatory of the European Commission has become a bellwether in eco-innovation thanks to sophisticated monitoring activities.

This is a powerful notion that runs through the EU’s vision where digital developments and eco-innovation feature in a safer, greener, smarter economy. EcoAP News spoke with Bettina Bahn-Walkowiak, senior researcher in circular economy at the Wuppertal Institute and lead author of the new EIO biennial report on Eco-Innovation and Digitalisation.

After more than a decade of monitoring green economy developments across the EU, the Eco-Innovation Observatory (EIO) has helped to build a shared understanding of what eco-innovation is, as well as why and how it should be supported by policy interventions, businesses and consumers.

The indicators tracking progress towards the European Green Deal goals will have a lot of work to do: helping policymakers and people more generally understand whether the green deal is being delivered successfully in all its breadth, and what more needs to be done.