Exploring the Potential of Geographical Indications for Green Innovation in European Regions

The Geographical Indications (GIs) have registered a steady augmentation since their introduction. There is an increasing debate on the sustainability of such productions and on the spill overs effect that they can generate for the sustainable development of regional economies. Such argument has recently become even more relevant because of the climate neutrality objective of the Green Deal strategy. Within this scenario, the adoption of green technologies could be useful to reduce carbon emissions, but there is no evidence if GIs spur or dampen these innovations. The aim is to investigate the role of GIs in the implementation of green innovation at regional level. By using fixed effects regression model, we test this relationship for 245 NUTS2 EU-27 regions over the period of 1996-2017. Results are consistent with the distance-to-the-frontier model. GIs affect positively green innovation in agriculture within regions far from the technological frontier.