A short guide to assessing environmental impacts of research and innovation policy

The guide provides an original framework and methodological advice on how to identify, scope and assess the environmental pressures and impacts of research and innovation policy. The central assumption in the overall framework is that any integrated assessment seeking to identify and measure environmental impacts of R&I need to be based on a robust understanding of the socio-economic effects of public intervention. Without evidence on how fast innovative products diffuse in society and how they are used, for example, we cannot estimate their environmental impact. The central element of the guide is the notion of impact pathways allowing for the scoping of challenging impact assessment (IA) assignments in which the link to the environment may seem remote at first sight. The publication features an innovative IA tool - the IA canvas - used to visualise impact pathways.