Author Description

Eco-innovation has been identified as one of the key drivers of change that need to be harnessed for a sustainable future. Given the complexity of eco-innovation as a concept, there are various challenges to measuring its progress. This paper briefly explores the evolution of the concept of eco-innovation and emphasises its role in the EU 2020 strategy. It then provides an overview of the different measurement approaches and challenges associated with identifying and using indicators for measuring progress in eco-innovation. Within this context, the paper describes the added value and key features of the www.measuring-progress.eu web tool, which aims to improve the way in which policy-makers and others involved in the policy process can access, understand and use indicators for green economy and eco-innovation. The web tool was developed on the basis of a systematic overview by the NETGREEN research team of the large and fragmented body of work in the field of green economy indicators. The paper concludes with a number of messages for policy-makers in the field of the green economy. Main policy messages: Results obtained from using composite indicators to gauge eco-innovation performance should be interpreted with caution and treated as indicative of overall eco-innovation performance. While efforts to improve data quality and to create more comprehensive eco-innovation indicators should continue, existing databases in the field should to be used more extensively. The alignment of eco-innovation indicators with other green economy indicators can provide a more holistic perspective on the sustainability performance of the EU and contribute to a more substantive discussion about the direction of eco-innovation and other sustainability measures.