مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد توسعه محصول سبز (الزویر)

The world population has grown by one billion in the span of the last twelve years, reaching today 7.3 billion people, and it is growing at a rate of 1.18% per year, i.e., an additional 83 million people annually (UN, 2015). This growth has been accompanied by a huge increase in the amount of natural resources extracted, to an extent never seen before (Krausmann et al., 2009; Wiedmann et al., 2015). In fact, natural resources are essential inputs for production processes supporting the needs of a growing population and the extraction, treatment, and disposal of such resources are an important source of income and jobs in many countries. In addition to their fundamental role in industry, natural resources are also part of the ecosystems that support the provision of services such as climate regulation, flood control, natural amenities, and cultural services. In this regard, the high consumption of natural resources can cause huge damages to the ecosystem, such as global climate change, landscape change, and loss of biodiversity (e.g., Donohoe, 2003; Weber et al., 2008). The scenario thus outlined shows that the world today is facing two main challenges: on the one hand, expanding the economic opportunities for a growing global population, but on the other hand, addressing the environmental pressures which, if left unaddressed, could undermine the ability to seize these opportunities. The way to address both these issues at the same time is to promote an environmentally sustainable economic growth (UNEP, 2011). Such an economic growth has been defined as “green growth”: “Green growth means fostering economic growth and development while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which our well-being relies” (OECD, 2011). Green growth can be promoted by applying multiple strategies, such as decarbonizing the economic systems forcing firms to adopt cleaner production processes (UNEP, 2004) as well as supporting the development of green products. In June 2009, the OECD Council Meeting at Ministerial Level adopted a Declaration on Green Growth, which invited the OECD to develop a Green Growth Strategy aimed at promoting the development of green sectors (OECD, 2009), i.e., those sectors able simultaneously to contribute to economic growth in the short term and to help reduce environmental pressures in the long term (Gazheli et al., 2016; de Bruyn, 2002; Porter and Van der Linde, 1995; Williams and Millington, 2004). Green products are in fact designed with the aim to reduce the environmental impacts of their design, manufacture, use, and disposal (Berchicci and Bodewes, 2005). In a recent study, Chen et al. (2017) show that in China the green sectors produce an important reduction of industrial pollution and at the same time contribute to the economic growth of the country. To support the development of green products and meet both environmental and economic goals, it is important to analyze the factors fostering green product development.