ABSTRACT
Innovation with the incorporation of the environmental dimension has become a central element of the debate on socioeconomic development in the face of growing environmental problems. The work aims to analyze, through panel data and the Innovation Survey (PINTEC), the relationship between productivity and environmental innovation in the processing industry of Minas Gerais in the period from 2000 to 2014. The results indicated that the adoption of environmental innovations by companies positively affects their productivity, with environmental regulation being one of the factors that also contributed to this increase when analyzing the levels of technological intensity; a result that highlights the importance of sectoral heterogeneities, in addition to the individual factors of the firms. In this sense, it is suggested that strengthening Research & Development actions focused on reducing environmental impacts and specific regulatory instruments can contribute to having a manufacturing industry more open to efficient environmental management practices.
KEYWORDS
Environmental innovation; Efficiency; Industry