Tracking environmental innovations and policy regulations in Japan: case studies on dioxin emissions and electric home appliances recycling

Abstract

Taking dioxin emissions from incineration and the recycling of home electric appliances in Japan as two case 14 studies, this paper aims to clarify the impact of environmental policy on technological innovation. For our case 15 studies, relevant Japanese patent data were gathered and analyzed for the period 1990-2008. To demonstrate 16 that environmental regulations induce technology innovation, we conducted statistical analysis to compare the 17 number of patents related to each regulation between the period under regulation and period outside the 18 regulation. The results show that after the regulations were introduced, new technological developments 19 occurred for most technological types and the total number of related patent applications was larger even when 20 controlling for other exogenous and endogenous factors such as business cycles and expenditures in Research 21 and Development (R&D). We finally argue that while a possible weakness in these types of direct regulations is 22 the lack of incentives for further innovations, they can still induce innovation if they are flexible and with 23 specific targets.

In Persuit of Eco-innovation. Drivers and Consequences of Eco-innovation at Firm Level

“…Meanwhile, for the adoption of eco-innovations with regard to reduction of CO 2 and energy consumption, the results show that the most effective driving force is a combination of regulations and taxes with subsidies (Veugelers 2012). Proper regulations can also influence environmental technologies; leading to the conclusion that these regulations should be flexible and oriented towards specific targets to promote innovations based on the product lifecycle and not just in-duce innovations in order to achieve the specific recycling targets (Yabar et al 2013). Leitner et al (2010) pointed out the complexity of the relationship between regulation and innovation and suggested a focus on "smart" regulation, which has a positive effect on the environment as well as innovation, leading industries toward the common goal of sustainability.…”

Analysis of Linkages between Environmental Policy Instruments and Innovation: A Case Study of End-of-Life Vehicles Technologies in Japan

“…This facilitated the replacement of batch incinerators with continuous-type incinerators with dioxin-trapping technologies. Due to limited landfill space in Japan, the government focused on effective uses of resources and minimizing the environmental and health impacts on the whole life cycle of the products from the early 1990s (Yabar et al, 2012). This helped to promote not only the recycling of plastics but also of other valuable material from the waste stream that can be used as a source of raw materials.…”

“…Many laws were made based on the 3R approach, i.e. Containers and Packaging Recycling Law (1995), Home Appliance Law (1998), Food Recycling Law (2000, and End-of-life Vehicles Recycling Law (2002) (Yabar et al, 2012;METI, 2004;METI, 2006). There are many studies on home appliance and ELV in Japan, but only a few studies have put their focus on proving that regulations drive innovation.…”

“…In the past, few empirical studies investigated the linkage between environmental policy and innovation due to a lack of patent data availability (Popp, 2005). Now due to more and free availability of patent data, we know that its use has many advantages (Popp, 2005;Yabar et al, 2012), which are as follows:…”

“…Furthermore, there is limited research on exploring the relationship between innovation and environmental regulation on recycling and waste management. Yabar et al (2012), for example, found that environmental regulations induce technological innovation in dioxin emissions from incinerators and recycling of home electric appliances in Japan. They used technological patents related to dioxin emissions and home appliances as a proxy in their study and found that environmental regulation triggers innovation.…”