The greening of industry for a sustainable future: building an international research agenda

In 1995 the coordinators of the Netherlands Advisory Council for Research on Nature and Environment (RMNO) and the Greening of Industry Network initiated a process of developing an international research agenda on sustainable development and the role of industry. The purpose of this initiative was two-fold: • To develop a research agenda on the process of greening of industry in the context of sustainable development which defines main research priorities for the coming decade; • To provide a clearer perspective on how research priorities are currently developed and how to improve this process. After a two year process of discussions via workshops and interviews including various stakeholders, four main research themes were selected: • Transformation towards sustainable development • Changing consumption patterns • Finance, capital and performance indicators • Technological breakthroughs. We hope to solicit a discussion on the future of the greening of industry research agenda. This article is based on a report The Greening of Industry for a Sustainable Future: Building an International Research Agenda (1997).