Financing the Commercialisation of Green Innovation

Innovation plays a large role in green growth. While it is a widely accepted view that, without innovation, it would be very difficult and costly to address major environmental issues, innovation itself tends to be constrained by limited access to eco-financing and is inherently risky, often requiring a long-term horizon. Although global consensus is more or less established as to the urgency and necessity of accelerating green innovation, the quality and quantity of financing in this area is largely insufficient, with increasing funding gaps in many countries. A new financial mechanism is urgently needed in order to re-orient financial flow and enable innovators to overcome the valleys of death that occur throughout the innovation cycle. A number of different modalities exist in financing the commercialisation of eco-innovation. Existing mechanisms have not been as successful as expected, revealing critical limits to furthering certain types of projects that are essential for economic and environmental progress. Experts' estimations have shown that the funding gap will widen in the coming years as demand for clean energy and green infrastructure rises, and as green technologies and innovation develop faster than the market for it can develop. Against this backdrop, the main purpose of this research is threefold: to identify issues and problems regarding current means of funding for eco-innovation and green projects; to provide insight into securing longterm green financing by looking at European cases; and ultimately to suggest policy implications for designing and implementing eco-specific financial instruments, focusing on governments' roles in sustainable financing for eco-innovation. This study analyses different models of financing mechanisms, a mix of public and private funds, in view of suggesting conditions for the sustainable financing of green projects, especially for large-scale high-risk projects. Based on the findings from the analyses of mechanisms and the shortcomings of the existing funding modalities, this study ultimately suggests policy implications for effectively supporting the commercialisation of eco-innovation.