Innovation for a clean environment: The case of Portuguese industries

As a result of industrialization and the ensuing rapid increase in greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, most scientists agree that the earths surface temperature will rise over the next decades. The UNs International Panel on Climate Change is eleven degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100. The extent of the warming is uncertain, but during the ice age, the earth average surface temperature was only nine degrees Fahrenheit colder than it is today (Tietenberg, 2000).\nIt is really important to detect signals in the environment about potential for change. These innovations could take the form of new technological products, processes, equipments or legislation due to social pressure (Tidd, 1999).This paper aims at analysing the behaviour and the implementation of innovation strategies for a clean environment by potential polluting industries in Portugal. Thus, a statistical model, with a confidence level of lamda=95%, allows concluding that the mean value for the clean environmental strategies under analysis is medium xm=3.1. However, environmental innovation programs aims at reducing air/water/soil pollution has high level xm=3.7.Additionally, in a high or very high level, 78% of the industries are introducing innovation in their production processes, as well as 45% of the industries are introducing eco-machinery in the plant.The data analysis reveals that there are 5 groups of industries implementing differently the ten clean environmental strategies, under research.