SCP in the Baltic Sea Region: Supporting SCP and Eco-Innovation in SMEs

Unsustainable consumption and production patterns are root causes of climate change and other forms of environmental degradation, thus changing these patterns is a key response to achieving sustainable development. This paper aims to identify and test appropriate incentives for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to apply eco-innovations and increase the exploitation of innovation potential. Eco-innovation addresses the whole life-cycle of a product and shouldn’t be understood as merely providing technical solutions to specific problems in the production process. In other words, eco-innovation can also support behavioural and lifestyle changes. The paper assesses regional and national initiatives and their support for advancing eco-innovation for sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in SMEs. The paper was developed within the framework of the SPIN Project Baltic 21 Lighthouse, financed by the EU Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007–2013.