Greening corporate innovation

: the role of CVC in Europe’s transition

Abstract

In recent years, Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) has attracted considerable attention as a mechanism for fostering innovation and recent US evidence links Green CVC to increases in parents’ green patenting (Bendig et al., 2022; Chemmanur et al., 2014). Against the backdrop of Europe’s decarbonization agenda, green innovation has become increasingly critical, yet little is known about how green CVC investment affects the innovation performance of incumbent firms. This study aims to close that gap. In a panel of European firms from 2012 to 2024, the impact of sustainable CVC investments on green innovation is analyzed, controlling for several absorptive capacities, green commitment and CVC experience as well as investment motivation. The models are estimated using negative binomial (NB) and Poisson-Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) regressions. The results show a significant positive effect under strict green patent definition. The effect is stronger for firms with higher absorptive capacities and CVCs with strategic investment motivation. The study provides empirical evidence on the contingent role of Green CVC in driving sustainable innovation. It specifically highlights that policy and corporate strategy should focus on enabling absorptive capacity and strategically aligned venturing and contributes to literature on CVC, sustainability transitions, and innovation measurement in Europe.

Date of Award	15 Oct 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Fátima Shuwaikh (Supervisor)