Environmental Innovation and Ecodesign: Certainties and Controversies

The end of the post-war economic boom was marked by the recognition of the environmental problem with the oil crises of the 1970s and, in 1972, the first major UN conference devoted to the human environment. Successive international meetings have resulted in a context where technical change, innovation and industry have assumed a central place in the creation of a new model of society.

Against this consensus, the author demonstrates from economic analysis and wide-ranging examples that the environmental innovation doctrine and ecodesign methods remain fragile and can lead to paradoxical results.

Romain Debref, general secretary of the Research Network on Innovation, is an Associate Professor in Economics at the University of Reims in France and a member of the REGARDS Research Unit, France. His work lies on the border between innovation and ecological economics. He is a member of the BIOCA project (Bioeconomy in Champagne-Ardenne – PSDR 4).