SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITIONS AND FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS: THE CASE OF THE ITALIAN ECO-INNOVATING COMPANIES

Following a multi-level perspective, a sustainability transition occurs only when destabilization pressures from the landscape level are exerted towards the current (unsustainable) regime, creating thus windows of opportunity for radical eco-innovations at niche level to emerge. However, the existence of financial constraints to eco-innovating companies can seriously hinder the possibility for a sustainability transition to occur by impeding the development and adoption of eco-innovations at regime level which create the favourable conditions for niche-eco-innovations to succeed. In this framework, the present paper explores the impact that financial constraints exert in the process of environmental sustainability by analysing the case of the Italian eco-innovating manufacturing companies. In particular, it employs an ad hoc designed survey to investigate to what extent financial constraints are creating a barrier to the alignment process between sociotechnical regime and nicheeco- innovations. Results seem to suggest the existence of a hierarchy of finance which could be delaying the alignment process between sociotechnical regime and niche-EIs required for the transition towards a more sustainable regime.