By Timothy Jack Nash
Wed Mar 23, 2011 7:31am EDT
by Timothy Jack Nash
Corporate spending on Research & Development is an informative signal for the direction of the overall economy. R&D strategies and budgets are often laid out in a long-term horizon, so they give a good indication of a company’s heading. When companies in a sector start competing to be the ‘greenest’ company, it spurs rapid innovation. This can lead to advertising campaigns touting environmental benefits that increase consumer awareness, such as Audi’s Superbowl ad.
Since no global research has been conducted on the extent of private corporate “green” R&D, the Green Transition Scoreboard (GTS) research team is, to our knowledge, the first to compile these figures. Our final total of $163,813,743,000 in investments and commitments to R&D since 2007 is by no means exhaustive, as R&D for green innovation is not always segregated and reported on its own by companies (although more than 1400 companies have produced GRI-compliant sustainability reports). Additionally, limited time for research challenged our team to look for big numbers first, counting commitments above $100 million. There are likely thousands more companies globally who are investing in green R&D that have not been included in this figure. Many do not report such R&D investments for competitive reasons. If you have access to press releases or audited statements for companies we have not listed, please email us.
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