| Title |
Driving the circular economy through public environmental and energy R&D: Evidence from SMEs in the European Union |
| ID_Doc |
4674 |
| Authors |
Garrido-Prada, P; Lenihan, H; Doran, J; Rammer, C; Perez-Alaniz, M |
| Title |
Driving the circular economy through public environmental and energy R&D: Evidence from SMEs in the European Union |
| Year |
2021 |
| Published |
|
| DOI |
10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106884 |
| Abstract |
Governments at the EU and the member state level are placing increased emphasis on public research and development (R&D) for energy and the environment to advance a circular economy (CE). To achieve CE goals, it is critical to engage SMEs as they represent the vast majority of enterprises in the EU. To date, there is a lack of evidence regarding the impact of these public R&D investments on SMEs' CE activities. We address this gap by analysing the impact of public environmental and energy R&D on CE implementation and investment by SMEs. The study draws from a multi-level database of 10,618 SMEs across 28 EU member states for the period 2013-2015 from the Flash Eurobarometer 441 survey and country-level data from other EU sources. Employing a mixed-level probit regression, we find that the knowledge generated by public environmental and energy R&D, defined as country-level investments in this activity from 2004 to 2015, positively affects SMEs' implementation of CE activities. Additionally, the study finds that public environmental and energy R&D affects the level of SMEs' investment in CE activities negatively, suggesting that more public R&D can substitute for the financial efforts that SMEs have to take when implementing CE activities. |
| Author Keywords |
Circular economy; SMEs; European Union; Environmental and energy R&D; Multilevel modelling; Flash Eurobarometer |
| Index Keywords |
Index Keywords |
| Document Type |
Other |
| Open Access |
Open Access |
| Source |
Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED); Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) |
| EID |
WOS:000618011100005 |
| WoS Category |
Ecology; Economics; Environmental Sciences; Environmental Studies |
| Research Area |
Environmental Sciences & Ecology; Business & Economics |
| PDF |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106884
|