To boost investments into sustainability, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) - a crucial part of the economy - must play a role. The current sustainable finance framework focuses on capital markets. But SMEs normally get external finance from banks, and bank-based financial systems work...

Using large scale EIB Investment Survey evidence for 2016 covering 8,900 non-financial firms from all size and age classes across all sectors and all EU member states, the authors identify different innovation profiles based on a firm’s R&D investment and/or innovation activities. Basic firms...