Exploring new metrics to measure environmental innovation
Several efforts have been made to track progress on environmental innovations using
very different approaches. However, many lack coverage, granularity, timeliness and
may involve high data collection costs, especially when conducted on a large scale.
Traditional indicators also overlook commercialised innovation and breakthrough innovation.
This issue is particularly relevant for environmental innovation, where scaling-up
is considered key to address the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises. The paper
reviews potential metrics to measure commercialised climate change-related innovation
and to measure breakthrough environmental innovation. By comparing advantages and
drawbacks of various options, the paper selects two families of metrics to measure
commercialised climate change-related innovation: one based on patent assignments
and the other one based on licensing agreements. For breakthrough environmental innovation,
the paper concludes that a family of metrics based on venture capital data is currently
the most promising option to pursue. The paper then develops the selected new metrics
and provides trends in environmental innovation over time, across sectors and when
possible across countries. The paper concludes that additional data sources should
be explored to extend the application of the proposed new metrics in more countries
and consider a more comprehensive set of supports to innovation.
Available from July 24, 2023
In series:OECD Environment Working Papersview more titles