---
title: "IT and the Environment: Improving Together"
summary: |-
  New research finds a link between companies innovating in IT and in environmental practices.
date: "2013-07-23"
issues: ["Clean Energy Innovation"]
authors: ["Ben Miller"]
content_type: "Blogs"
canonical_url: "https://itif.org/publications/2013/07/23/it-and-environment-improving-together/"
---

# IT and the Environment: Improving Together

![Featured Image](https://s3.amazonaws.com/assetsarchive.itif.org/innovationfiles/uploads/2013/07/benblog.jpg)

A new paper by two Italian economists finds links between information technology (IT) and environmentally-friendly innovation in firms. The paper, [Information Technology, Environmental Innovations and Complementary Strategies](http://out.economia.unife.it/uploads/dip_deit/quaderni/2013132.pdf), uses EU firm-level data to examine whether firms innovating in the IT space were also innovating with regard to their environmental practices. The researchers find a significant correlation between IT and environment-related innovation. They also find some evidence that IT helps drive environmental innovation in several ways.

This result fits well with the ideas put forth in ITIF’s 2008 report *[Digital Quality of Life](http://www.itif.org/files/DQOL.pdf)*, that information technologies are not only helping environmental regulators and activists do their job better, they are also helping businesses do a better job of making their impact more environmentally friendly.

---
*Source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)*
*URL: https://itif.org/publications/2013/07/23/it-and-environment-improving-together/*