Policy options for green regional development: applying a production and application perspective

Green and sustainable development has received increasing attention in recent years due to challenges emanating from climate change and worsening environmental conditions. Although these are problems of global nature, actions have to be taken often at lower spatial scales, such as local and regional ones. In this paper we focus on innovation and industrial policies and on the regional level, since green development often emerges here and can be supported by respective policies. However, effective policies have to consider that individual regions face different kinds of industrial and environmental challenges for moving towards a ‘greener’ future. This article develops a framework that allows taking such differences into account. Furthermore, we distinguish between the production and application of ‘green technologies’ and consider their spatial nature. We investigate factors and challenges for green regional development and we explore the potential role of policies for different types of regions.