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Innovation in technologies and how they are applied are key to enabling industry to create new business values while also benefiting people and the planet. In recent years, manufacturing companies are upgrading their efforts towards sustainable manufacturing from pollution prevention to integrated approaches that take into account the product’s lifecycle and even wider impact. Eco-innovation helps realise this evolution through a combination of technological and non-technological changes with which substantial environmental improvements can be yielded. The current economic crisis and climate change negotiations should be taken as a great opportunity for shifting towards a green economy through accelerating eco-innovation.
Phase I project summary is now available
The first phase of the OECD Project on Sustainable Manufacturing and Eco-innovation was concluded in April 2009. Short and long summaries of the project report are now available:
This phase focused on the development of an analytical framework and a review of the state of current knowledge on industry practices, policy initiatives and measurement. The full Phase I report will be published in the autumn 2009.
Development of a “Sustainable Manufacturing Toolkit” underway
The development of a “sustainable manufacturing toolkit” was launched in April 2009 to address business needs for simple and consistent metrics. This toolkit aims to help manufacturing companies improve their sustainability performance by providing guidance on benchmarking their products and production processes.
Global Forum on Eco-innovation to be held in November
The annual OECD Global Forum on Environment will be organised this year with the theme “Policies to Support Eco-innovation: Lessons Learned and Ways Forwards”. The event will take place on 4-5 November 2009 in the OECD Conference Centre, Paris. You can register to attend this free-of-charge event at Global Forum on Eco-innovation website.
Improving resource and energy use and engaging in a broad range of innovations to improve environmental performance will lead to new industries and new jobs in coming years. Incremental improvement is not enough, however. Industry must be restructured, and existing and breakthrough technologies must be more innovatively applied to realise green growth. Short-term relief packages deployed today can stimulate investments in technologies and infrastructures that help innovation and enable changes in the way we produce and consume goods and services.
In this context, the OECD Project on Sustainable Manufacturing and Eco-innovation was launched in 2008 to better understand how innovation can result in new technological and systemic solutions to global challenges and to provide industry with a means to improve their contributions to sustainable development.
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Framework, practices and measurement: Key findings
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The first phase of the project focused on the development of an analytical framework and a review of the state of current knowledge on industry practices, policy initiatives and measurement. The overall findings are:
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The evolution of sustainable manufacturing has been realised through both technological and non-technological eco-innovations.
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Improvement in indicators and measurement can accelerate corporate efforts and deepen understanding of eco-innovation by industry and policy makers alike.
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Better understanding of the right levers for eco-innovation from both supply and demand side is needed for developing an effective policy mix.
More details including 9 key findings can be found in the Synthesis Report.
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Eco-innovation has three dimensions: its targets (the main focus), its mechanisms (methods for introducing changes in the target) and its impacts (the effects on environmental conditions). Eco-innovation also involves both technological and non-technological changes.
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Under the current economic crisis, eco-innovation is gaining ground within both industry and government as an effective way to tackle climate change and to foster green growth. The Phase II (2009-10) of this project aims to better understand highly complex nature of such innovations and guiding policy makers and industry practitioners for putting more innovative solutions into practice. The outcomes from this project will form an integral part of the OECD Innovation Strategy to be launched in 2010.
Activities of the Phase II include:
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Development of a toolkit to help businesses benchmark their performance and improve their production processes and products;
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Gathering and in-depth analyses of examples of eco-innovations to extract lessons for practitioners and policy makers; and
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Identification of promising policies that encourage eco-innovation by sharing best practices among OECD governments.
OECD Websites
External Links
Structural Policy Division, Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry:
For questions on Sustainable Manufacturing Toolkit
Michael Bordt
Email: Michael.Bordt [at] oecd.org
For questions on Eco-innovation analysis
Tomoo Machiba
Email: Tomoo.Machiba [at] oecd.org
Permanent URL: www.oecd.org/sti/innovation/sustainablemanufacturing
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