The influence of the local level on innovations in environmental technology: The case of the German kraft pulp industry

Particularly in view of the general trend for governments to withdraw from environmental regulation and leave the field to market processes, and in view of the growing importance of (transnational) environmental NGOs, the question arises whether and to what extent the local level as a location for production activities of whatever kind may influence the environmental performance of industrial enterprises. The concept proposed for the local level in this study incorporates the business-cluster and the (creative) milieu approach. The study uses disputes about the pulp industry in Germany in the period between 1950 and 2005 as an example to investigate the influence of local actors and local knowledge. It appears that the perception of industry-related environmental problems, as well as the solutions proposed, increase in quality as the volume of localised industry-specific knowledge expands. At the same time, responses at the local level are unmistakeably informed by debates about environmental problems on the national plane as well as by discussions about development paths at the local and/or regional level.