Green Entrepreneurship as a Sustainable Business Model: Key Lessons for SMEs

Green Entrepreneurship as a Sustainable Business Model: Key Lessons for SMEs | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Green Entrepreneurship as a Sustainable Business Model: Key Lessons for SMEs Mihaela Onofrei, Florin Oprea, Erika-Maria Doacă This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8480258/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 21 Apr, 2026 Read the published version in Future Business Journal → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract At the global level, green entrepreneurship has increasingly been positioned as a key innovative mechanism for advancing energy efficiency, promoting resource reuse through circular economy principles, and fostering the development of clean technologies. Our study contributes to the knowledge field by examining the extent to which green entrepreneurship functions as a sustainable business model, while also identifying the key opportunities, challenges, and different constraints. The main purpose of our analysis is to emphasize the role of the legislative framework in promoting green entrepreneurship and its significance for the economy. The research employs both qualitative and quantitative methods, combining bibliometric and empirical analyses in a complementary manner. The data used in this research are panel data, collected from Eurostat, OECD and the World Bank, and the sample consists of the 27 member states of the European Union, over the period 2008–2022. A particularly underexplored area we address is the role of green financing, which supports ecological entrepreneurship but also imposes specific compliance requirements that can be both beneficial and demanding for businesses. We further highlight how governmental decisions influence the entrepreneurial landscape and sustainable development efforts, helping to clarify the relationship between green entrepreneurship and economic growth. The topic remains insufficiently addressed in existing research, with a limited number of studies dedicated to this intersection of entrepreneurship, sustainability, and environmental policy. Our findings offer relevant insights for both the business environment and policymaking, emphasizing the strategic importance of green entrepreneurship in achieving resilient economic transformation. In particular, our research highlights that Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, Government Effectiveness and FDI availability are essential factors contributing to the development of eco-innovative entrepreneurship, providing key lessons for policymakers and the business community. JEL Classification : G41; L26; Q01. green entrepreneurship sustainable development circular economy small and medium-sized enterprises business model integrative analysis Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 1. Introduction Entrepreneurship plays a particularly important role in the progress of societies. Thus, at a global level, the economy has registered a permanent growth, but has left its mark on the environment. Under these conditions, there is currently a strong contradiction between economic development and environmental degradation. Therefore, in recent years, increased attention has been paid to green entrepreneurship in both developed and developing countries, considering green training as an important issue for treating the environment. Furthermore, entrepreneurial activity enables enterprises to contribute to the green transition by addressing the social and ecological challenges specific to each country. As a result of these considerations, the purpose of our research is to identify the determinants of green innovative entrepreneurship. Thus, our main research question is: What is the importance of the legislative framework in promoting a sustainable business environment? Starting from this main question, we identified other questions of our research: What is the link between green innovative entrepreneurship and economic growth?; Is there a link between small and medium-sized enterprises and green innovative entrepreneurship?; Do bank loans influence green entrepreneurship?; Does foreign direct investment influence green entrepreneurship?; Does renewable energy consumption influence green entrepreneurship?. The continous development of the economy at a global level intensifies the problems generated by energy consumption, environmental pollution, as well as the social effects generated on the population. Therefore, sustainable development, supported by the government, the population, and the business sector, is of imperative importance. Sustainable development contributes to economic growth and to the improvement of environmental quality, constituting the strategic objective at a global level. Since green entrepreneurship contributes to the improvement of the traditional business model, it represents the main pillar of the sustainable development of the economy, environment and society (Domanska et al., 2018 ). Under these circumstances, growing public and governmental awareness, along with alignment to global environmental protection standards, has prompted the entrepreneurial sector to place greater emphasis on green strategies. Therefore, currently, at a global level, governments pay special attention to achieving sustainable development goals. However, effective sustainable development is indicated to cover present needs, but without compromising the needs of future generations (Alwakid et al., 2021 ). In this regard, the expenditures that governments must make, along with the decisions adopted regarding subsidies, respectively, the collection of additional taxes and fees in order to obtain results favorable to achieving sustainable development goals, must not generate the presence of a budget deficit. The measures that the state adopts to support and promote green entrepreneurship must not generate a burdensome effect on the population and entrepreneurs. The existence of a correlation between subsidy mechanisms and government sanctions can contribute to the adoption of innovative behaviors. Recent events affecting both the macro and micro environment—including the COVID-19 pandemic, economic crises, armed conflicts, and climate change—have underscored the critical importance of continuous collaboration among the business sector, governments, and consumers in adopting and implementing sustainable development strategies. Thus, green entrepreneurship and sustainable development are closely linked (Johnson and Schaltegger, 2020). Since green entrepreneurship is often associated with both environmental and social goals, there is an overlap between green and social entrepreneurship. Given these aspects, green entrepreneurship initiatives are oriented towards solving environmental problems, combating global warming, as well as the use of green energy and the implementation of various recycling methods (Teran-Yepez, 2020). As a result of the fact that worldwide, over 99.5% of all companies are small and medium-sized enterprises, both entrepreneurs and the political factor must pay special attention to the implementation of strategies for adopting green entrepreneurship. The aforementioned aspects are supported by the positive effects that this sector generates in the economy: it employs over 65% of the population, thus contributing to the reduction of the unemployment rate, and contributes over 58% to the country's GDP, making an overwhelming contribution to economic growth. Statistics show that entrepreneurs are now integrating sustainable practices into their business models, as a result of financial performance and the impact of their activities on the environment (Kartiko et al., 2022). Thus, green entrepreneurship contributes to promoting sustainability and innovation in order to achieve economic and environmental objectives, thus contributing to the achievement of the SDGs (Reniati and Faisal, 2024 ). In recent years, a significant number of companies have been contributing to sustainable development through their actions. Thus, in order to achieve the sustainable development goals and to achieve an effective transition, the private sector plays an essential role (Ramadani et al., 2022 ). Since the private sector is mostly represented by small and medium-sized enterprises, this sector has an overwhelming contribution in the field of sustainable development (Troise, 2024). The paper is structured in 3 main parts: theoretical analysis, methodology used and practical study. Within the theoretical analysis, we conducted studies of specialized articles that analyzed green entrepreneurship. In the methodological part, we conducted a qualitative and quantitative analysis in order to achieve the research goal. The practical part highlights the main results, emphasizing the importance of the existence of a sustainable business environment in the economy, as well as the need for its support from governments. 2. Exploring Green Entrepreneurship. A Review of the Literature The 1972 Stockholm Declaration, adopted under the United Nations Environment Programme, marked a significant intensification of global environmental protection efforts. Since then, the approach to sustainable development issues has evolved to include the following topics: eco-entrepreneurship, environmental entrepreneurship, sustainable entrepreneurship and green SMEs (Blue, 1990 ; Bennett, 1991 ). Globally, one of the most pressing challenges is the fight against climate change, which demands active engagement from both entrepreneurs and consumers, requiring the reorientation of production processes and the adoption of sustainable consumption models. Thus, in this context, entrepreneurs are also considered the driving force, due to their ability to innovate, but the impact of political decision makers is also essential in order to adopt measures that allow for increased business performance. Given these considerations, governments in OECD countries have adopted a series of policies in recent years to stimulate the transition of the business environment towards a green economy. Among the main measures identified are: the creation and expansion of green markets, legislative changes, political commitments (OECD, 2022 ). The results of the study indicate that adopting integrated governance models is essential, as green entrepreneurship relies on national government support, underscoring the need for partnerships between the public and private sectors. One such example is Israel, where there is a collaboration between the Israeli Innovation Authority, the government and the private sector. In this regard, the need for permanent support for green entrepreneurship is highlighted, because among the biggest problems facing this sector are the lack of optimal access to finance and the management of intellectual property. The study conducted by the OECD presents the situation in Denmark, which represents the pillar of green entrepreneurship, being supported by the legislative framework, but which, contrary to expectations, faces obstacles regarding access to finance and small internal markets. Therefore, among the actions taken in Denmark to strengthen green entrepreneurship are (OECD, 2022 ): support for green entrepreneurship by the national government and local authorities, in partnership with the private sector and non-governmental organizations; implementation of a single portal to support green entrepreneurs; development of business incubators and accelerators to establish new businesses to support the adoption of wind energy technologies and energy efficiency. Considering these aspects, the following factors have been identified that have the role of stimulating green entrepreneurship: providing personalized financial support for entrepreneurs, implementing high reporting standards, determining the price of carbon, inclusive entrepreneurship, as well as changes in consumer preferences. The concept of sustainable development emerged in response to growing environmental concerns. Thus, the sustainable development goals were stability, with the aim of transforming the world by addressing the challenges faced by the population, in order to ensure well-being, economic prosperity and environmental protection. In this regard, in 2015, the United Nations General Assembly approved the SDGs that emphasize the interconnected environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable development, paying special attention to sustainability. From an analytical perspective, these goals refer to: no poverty; zero hunger; good health and well-being; quality education; gender equality; clean water and sanitation; affordable and clean energy; decent work and economic growth; industry, innovation and infrastructure; reduced inequalities; sustainable cities and communities; responsible consumption and production; climate action; life below water; life on land; peace, justice and strong institutions; and partnerships for the goals ( https://sdgs.un.org/ ). The Sustainable Development Goals have highlighted the importance of the green economy within the framework of sustainable development and poverty reduction, particularly through the involvement of the entrepreneurial sector, and this aspect has motivated our study. Green Project ( 2012 ) defines green entrepreneurship as representing the totality of activities that address environmental or social issues using entrepreneurial ideas that have a superior benefit on the environment and financial sustainability. In other words, green entrepreneurship represents an innovative way of approaching business, which includes ecological elements in all stages of the company. Thus, green entrepreneurship represents an effective solution to solve the problems related to the existence of a high degree of pollution in society. The literature in the field has identified the existence of a strong link between the practice of ecological principles by companies and their performance. Thus, in the last decade, increased attention has been paid to innovation for environmental sustainability. However, there are a number of factors that influence the adoption of innovations by companies: company size, managerial characteristics, industrial sector (Gonzalez-Benito and Gonzalez-Benito, 2006 ). Also, Gevrenova ( 2015 ) defines green entrepreneurship as the activities of a company to produce environmentally friendly products, to reduce costs by efficiently using natural resources, to adopt techniques to reduce energy consumption. Other authors (Maisaroh et al., 2022 ) have analyzed the determinants of the adoption of green entrepreneurship behavior. Thus, the main factors identified were personality traits, psychological factors, contextual factors. Also, green entrepreneurship comes from the combination of the essential characteristics of entrepreneurship (risk, innovation, flexibility) along with the ecological and social commitment of entrepreneurs. Other authors consider green entrepreneurship as sustainable entrepreneurship, also constituting an essential component of sustainable development and an intersection of traditional, social and sustainable entrepreneurship. According to the analyses carried out by Green Entrepreneurship Training, there are a number of differences and similarities between entrepreneurship and green entrepreneurship ( https://www.green-entrepreneurship.online/ ). Thus, both share common forms of strategy and organization, general environmental factors (market size, capital requirements, socio-cultural factors, communication etc.), and the personality of the entrepreneur. However, there are also a number of significant differences between the two concepts, such that green entrepreneurship is oriented towards the green economy and sustainable development, green products, green services, green processes, green solutions. Other authors (Demirel et al., 2019 ) have analyzed the factors that influence the decision making behavior of green startups. Among the factors with particular impact are industry life cycles, institutions, and external financing. Since small and medium-sized enterprises are considered the engine of economic growth, having an overwhelming contribution to the creation of added value at the global level, Ebrahimi and Mirbargkar ( 2017 ) analyzed the relationship between eco-innovation and the development of small and medium-sized enterprises under conditions of market uncertainty regarding the role of eco-entrepreneurship. The results of the study demonstrated that there is a significant relationship between eco-innovation and the development of the small and medium-sized enterprise sector. Other authors (Yang, 2021) have analyzed the importance of government regulations in promoting eco-innovative behaviors, demonstrating the importance of subsidy mechanisms along with government penalties in order to disperse these behaviors. Statistics (World Bank, 2024) demonstrate that in recent years there has been a considerable increase in environmental problems, as well as labor crises. Since economic growth is a key vector of economic policies with a direct and positive impact on the labor force and economic well-being, the presence of changes and the adoption of solutions is essential. However, the changes that occur can affect the environment, but generate positive effects for the business environment. Therefore, green entrepreneurship aims to solve these problems and authors such as Chandel ( 2022 ) have analyzed the relationship between entrepreneurship and the decisions adopted at the level of each country, as well as the relationship between social and traditional entrepreneurship with state institutions. The results demonstrated the existence of a relationship between green entrepreneurship and sustainable development, as well as between government decisions and green entrepreneurship. Thus, policymakers must propose solutions for the adoption of green behavior by both customers and the business environment, in order to generate an economically and ecologically sustainable society. International organizations recognize the importance of implementing policies to promote the adoption of a green economy at the global level. Thus, other opinions (Farinelli et al., 2011 ) consider that the green economy should not be imposed, but should be led by entrepreneurs who benefit from political incentives, thus generating significant benefits for society and the environment, as well as for the transformation of an entire industry. The authors' results demonstrate the need for governments to adopt decisions that create a favorable environment for innovations for an entire sector and not subsidize only niche markets. Other authors (Lodhi et al., 2024 ) conducted a bibliometric analysis to analyze the relationship between innovation-sustainability and green entrepreneurship. The results demonstrated the existence of a strong connection between these concepts. Also, a series of authors (Lobonț et al., 2021 ) analyzed the impact of good governance on entrepreneurship at the European Union level, depending on the human development index and the number of years of schooling, using principal component analysis and regression as the main methodology. The authors considered in the analysis the achievement of sustainable development objectives, which involves governments, the private sector and citizens. The results of the regression analysis demonstrate the existence of an indirect impact of public governance on the demography of the business environment, which demonstrates that public policies do not support entrepreneurship in order to develop it. It was also demonstrated the lack of citizen involvement in adopting decisions to support entrepreneurship. Alwakid et al. ( 2021 ) analyzed the impact of entrepreneurial activity on sustainable development, starting from institutional economics. The results of the study demonstrated that green entrepreneurship positively influences the economic, social and environmental framework of sustainable development. Given these results, the need for future government involvement in supporting green entrepreneurship is thus demonstrated. Also, Kwilinski et al. ( 2024 ) analyzed the impact of green entrepreneurship on green economic development, the results demonstrating the existence of a positive relationship between economic development and green entrepreneurship. To obtain these results, the authors used a series of explanatory variables: the number of patents in environmental technologies in order to understand the importance of technological innovation in stimulating environmental sustainability and economic growth, along with GNI, which measured the wellbeing of a country and its ability to support green entrepreneurship through optimal financial resources (Gracia and Siregar, 2021 ). Another variable used is trade openness, which aims to establish the involvement of a country in international transactions. Other authors (Yin et al., 2021 ) analyzed the relationship between green innovation and the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises. The analysis was conducted for 1667 companies listed on the Chinese stock exchange and the results showed that innovation based on green utility models influences the performance of SMEs and innovation based on inventions does not have a major impact on the performance of this sector. It was also shown that older companies benefit more from innovation based on green inventions compared to younger companies. As a result of these results, the characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises are highlighted: adaptability, flexibility, but also the barriers faced by newly established companies. Considering the impact of small and medium-sized enterprises in the economy, Vasilescu et al. (2023) conducted a study on 7326 companies from 36 countries to identify the factors that influence the stimulation of green entrepreneurship. Thus, as a result of applying a logistic regression model, the research results demonstrated that the main factors with an impact on green entrepreneurship are the age of the company, its financial performance, the level of economic development of the country along with the stimulation measures adopted by the government. It was also demonstrated that the decisive factor on the growth of green entrepreneurship is represented by accessing optimal financing, since companies operating in less developed countries encounter numerous barriers in the process of developing new ecological products and services, thus support programs dedicated to the implementation of green entrepreneurship are essential. The performance of countries that adhered to the 2009 OECD Declaration on Green Growth demonstrates a decline in innovation activity since 2011, after significant progress recorded in 2000. Currently, the main suppliers of green technologies are emerging countries, but despite this, countries such as China and India are experiencing overwhelming growth. Capozza and Samson ( 2019 ) demonstrated that emerging countries show significant growth in markets for environmental goods and services, but nevertheless, the presence of environmental regulations, prices, green public procurement, and eco-labeling is necessary. Melay et al. ( 2017 ) analyzed the relationship between entrepreneurship and green entrepreneurship, as well as the determinants, on a sample of 10 small and medium-sized enterprises in Czechoslovakia. The results of the analysis show the existence of a strong interrelationship between the two concepts, with entrepreneurship having an essential role within green enterprises. Despite this, green enterprises are restricted from operating effectively by legislative instabilities and bureaucracy existing in the external environment. Purwandani and Michaud ( 2021 ) analyzed the factors that determine the implementation of green practices by SMEs in the USA, using questionnaires. The results of the study demonstrated that the main factors with a direct impact on small and medium-sized enterprises are internal motivations and the creation of a favorable image in the market. However, factors with a negative impact were also identified: lack of capital in the implementation of green business practices. Other authors (Rodrigues and Franco 2023 ) have analyzed the techniques adopted by small and medium-sized enterprises in order to implement innovation activities. The results of the study have demonstrated that it is necessary for current companies to change their traditional business models and adopt sustainable models, which demonstrates the need for the involvement of the public sector in partnership with the private sector. Thus, in the field of business, the need for innovation is proven. The impact of innovation on technological products involves making improvements in design, quality, reducing emissions, efficient use of energy, using biodegradable packaging, etc. (Hellstrom, 2007 ). Also, industry 4.0. has generated in recent years a considerable increase in companies adopting sustainable business models. Thus, Pizzi et al. ( 2021 ), following the completion of case studies, analyzed the relationship between Fintech applications and the circular economy, the results demonstrating that Fintech applications contribute to the transition of SMEs to a sustainable business. Lopes de Sousa Jabbour et al. ( 2018 ), demonstrated that the advances generated by the industry 4.0 revolution adopted by SMEs contribute to sustainable and circular economies. Starting from the idea that sustainable entrepreneurship leads to business performance (Soto-Acosta et al., 2016 ), the main factors impacting the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises are the approaches of enterprises towards people, the planet and the profit obtained. The interest in the environment and society demonstrates the need to adopt perspectives on the production and sale of products and services, and therefore, green innovation is important for the implementation of sustainable development (Castillo-Benancio et al., 2023 ). Thus, environmental issues influence both society and business performance. Muangmee et al. ( 2021 ) analyzed the influence of the adoption of green innovations on business performance, demonstrating that green innovations have the strongest influence on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises. At the national level in Romania, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for the majority of climate-related loans, which they use to finance investments in renewable energy, efficient transport, and green buildings. In recent years, the volume of such loans has increased, primarily due to the growing number of SMEs in the construction sector contracting climate-related financing. Thus, green financing is perceived as an essential condition for obtaining financing, being provided by both the banking sector and international financial institutions. Mukherjee et al. ( 2024 ) analyzed the financing of green startups, using a systematic literature review methodology. The results demonstrated the contracting of a diversity of financing sources, including equity and crowdfunding, but nevertheless there is a dependence on public financing. Last but not least, Şandor and Creţa ( 2014 ) have analyzed the evolution of governance quality in Romania, by performing principal component analysis, demonstrating the existence of a link between this factor and the six indicators (participation and accountability, political stability, governance effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption) but nevertheless the rule of law, governance effectiveness and control of corruption register the strongest contribution. Also, Trigkas et al. ( 2012 ) have analyzed the existing link between green entrepreneurship and its impact on the competitiveness of this sector, the results demonstrating its positive impact on increasing the competitiveness of firms operating in the furniture sector in Greece. Other authors (Drago and Gatto, 2022 ) have analyzed the impact of promoting energy efficient technologies on supporting sustainable entrepreneurship, the results demonstrating the existence of a positive relationship between energy efficiency and entrepreneurship. 3. Research Methodology: An Integrative Analysis of Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches 3.1. Research Objectives Since green innovative entrepreneurship is a relatively new concept, our literature review revealed that only a limited number of studies have addressed this field. Therefore, in this research we conducted a quantitative analysis by conducting a bibliometric study. In line with business models, we narrowed the research scope by analyzing journals in the field through keywords, titles, and abstracts. Thus, in this research, we applied the PRISMA analysis, consisting of the four stages (identification, screening, eligibility and inclusion) in order to select a representative sample. The search and selection of papers was carried out using the Scopus database. In order to search and select papers, we used the maximum time interval for which articles were available. Thus, our analysis covers papers published between 2002 and 2025. The key words representative of the subject of our research are: green entrepreneurship, sustainability. For our analysis interval (2002–2025), 441 papers relevant to our subject of analysis were identified. Through this analysis, we also want to identify the impact of green financing on the business environment, respectively on sustainable development, determining the relationship between green innovative entrepreneurship and economic growth. Given the current state of knowledge, the main objective of this paper is to explore the significance of green entrepreneurship in promoting sustainable economic growth, as well as to explore the potential impact of the legislative framework on its dynamics in the business environment. As a result of identifying the research topic, the main objective of the paper, we established the following possible working hypotheses, which are related to the secondary objectives and which contributed to the process of selecting the working variables: Objective 1 The importance of green innovative entrepreneurship on economic growth. Since the business environment, but especially small and medium-sized enterprises, have an overwhelming contribution to economic growth, it is essential to establish the existing connection between the effort made by entrepreneurs to implement this concept and the effects generated in the economy. Objective 2 The importance of the legislative framework in promoting entrepreneurship. The legislative framework influences all sectors of activity. Given that legislation is constantly evolving and strongly influenced by political factors, it is essential to analyze the current legal framework governing the implementation of green innovative entrepreneurship principles. Objective 3 The importance of small and medium-sized enterprises in the development of the circular economy. Globally, small and medium-sized enterprises represent the “backbone” of the economy. Thus, they support the economy at a global level, by creating new jobs, by generating added value in the economy, as well as by the flexibility of this sector. Therefore, due to the characteristics they present, small and medium-sized enterprises can easily adapt to the changes that occur. In the last decade, this sector has faced insufficient access to external financing, thus having to meet the conditions imposed in order to obtain green financing. 3.2. Data and methodology Given these considerations, we regard it as critically important to conduct a systematic review of the obstacles and opportunities associated with the implementation of green innovative entrepreneurship. Therefore, we have highlighted the evolution of articles published in the period 2002–2025 on the topic of green entrepreneurship, noting a reduced number of publications in the period 2002–2014 (Fig. 1 ). Starting with 2014, a constant increase in publications can be observed, as a result of paying increased attention to this concept. Thus, this increase is due to decisions adopted by governments on the obligation of the entrepreneurial environment to adopt environmental protection measures. Among these measures we can identify the use of biodegradable packaging, the reduction of greenhouse gases, the reduction of energy consumption and the use of renewable sources, the support of a hybrid work system, the use of alternative transportation etc. Also, in order to support a sustainable economic and social environment, governmental authorities has imposed the payment of additional taxes and duties for both the business environment and citizens in order to reduce the negative impact on the environment. Source: Scopus database According to the available data, 11 fields were identified within which green entrepreneurship is analyzed (Fig. 2 ). Thus, in the field of business and management, increased attention is paid to this concept (22.7%), followed by social sciences (16.2%), an aspect that demonstrates the imperative nature of adopting techniques to protect the environment and society. The results demonstrate that sectors such as art (1.3%) and mathematics (1.5%) pay little attention to this concept, as a result of the impossibility of implementing measures to protect the economic and social environment in these sectors of activity. Since it is proven that globally, small and medium-sized enterprises represent 99.8% of all companies, employ over 60% of the workforce and contribute over 55% to added value, companies operating in the field of business and management adopt measures to adopt the circular economy (SAFE, 2024). Source: processing according to the Scopus database To refine the results, we applied a minimum coincidence threshold equal to 1, obtained from the keywords and abstracts, resulting in 1146 terms. We subsequently extracted the first 1000 terms and performed a manual selection of them, eliminating the linking words, resulting in 810 terms. Following the export of works from the Scopus database, using the bibliometric program VOSviewer, Table 1 presents the first 15 terms identified, demonstrating the degree of association with other terms. Thus, the total strength of the link is represented by the number of links of a word. Therefore, according to the information presented, the main notions of interest are: "green entrepreneurship", "sustainable development", "sustainability", "SME's", etc. Thus, the most common keyword is “green entrepreneurship” which appeared in 214 publications and was combined with 897 other words. The second most common keyword was “sustainable development” which appeared in 44 papers and was combined with 202 other words. Table 1 Common keywords. Crt. No. Term Number of appearances Total bond strength 1. green entrepreneurship 214 897 2. sustainable development 44 202 3. sustainability 40 201 4. entrepreneurship 30 132 5. green innovation 26 113 6. sustainable entrepreneurship 21 89 7. green entrepreneurial orientation 25 76 8. innovation 15 64 9. environment 12 62 10. green economy 17 56 11. ecopreneurship 11 53 12. sme’s 8 49 13. social entrepreneurship 8 49 14. green entrepreneurial intentions 8 45 15. entrepreneurship education 9 43 Source: own work based on the Scopus database 3.3. Results and discussions of the qualitative analysis Following these steps, the keyword co-occurrence matrix was generated (Fig. 3 ). The nodes are obtained by including the analyzed terms, their size demonstrating their importance. Therefore, the greater the frequency and size of the term, the greater the importance it is assigned in the analysis. Also, the distance between the nodes demonstrates the connections between the terms, so that the smaller the distance, the stronger the connection. According to the results presented in the co-occurrence matrix, there is a close connection between the terms green innovative entrepreneurship, sme's, fintech, education, sustainable business, green economy, energy efficiency. Given the large distance between terms such as "economic crisis" and "business dynamics", we conclude that not all events in the macroeconomic environment influence green innovative entrepreneurship. Source: own creation using VOSviewer software The analysis resulted in 67 clusters, the most important ones being included in Table 2 . Cluster no. 1 is represented by the main keyword "Green Entrepreneurship", cluster no. 2 - sustainable development, cluster no. 3 - sustainability, cluster no. 4 - entrepreneurship, cluster no. 5 - green innovation, etc. The articles included in the first cluster paid special attention to green entrepreneurship, being related to small and medium-sized enterprises, business dynamics, equity financing. Cluster no. 2 highlights the digital economy and the green economy, respectively green entrepreneurship, which demonstrates the importance of digitizing the business environment. As for cluster no. 3, it highlights the importance of entrepreneurial education and women entrepreneurs. The yellow cluster presents the need for the existence of company performance and government decisions. The green cluster demonstrates the existence of a link between the circular economy and environmental values, an aspect that highlights the importance of the business environment adopting decisions to protect the environment. Considering these aspects, the five clusters identified by us in this analysis equally highlight the opportunities and constraints generated by the implementation of environmental and social protection techniques by the business environment. Table 2 Main clusters of keyword co-occurrence. Clusters Key words First associated words Gray Green entrepreneurship, green economy SME’s, Institution, bricolage, business dynamics, equity financing, circular plastic economy Orange Digital economy Green economy, green entreprenurship Blue Entrepreneurship education Women entrepreneurs Yellow Firm performance Government decisions Verdant Circular economy Environmental values, theory of planned behavior Source: author's own creation using VOSviewer software The co-occurrence matrix of countries that pay special attention to the concept of green entrepreneurship is presented in figure no. 4. Thus, we observe a strong correlation among the countries located on the left side of the map, which show greater attention to this concept. As a result of this analysis, 14 clusters emerged, established after 88 countries. According to the results, globally, China has benefited from increased attention paid to this concept. Source: own creation using VOSviewer software Thus, in the process of economic growth, green entrepreneurship plays a particularly important role. Through the measures adopted by governments (fiscal incentives, accessing green financing, levying taxes and duties), green entrepreneurship has recorded a constant evolution in recent years. Despite this, entrepreneurs perceive these measures either as opportunities for the development of their businesses or as obstacles, because in some situations they involve additional costs. Thus, currently, especially in economically developed countries, green entrepreneurship benefits from constant support from both governments and customers and entrepreneurs. Given these considerations, but also as a sum of the results obtained in the keyword co-occurrence matrix, there was a strong link between green entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises. Given the results of our analysis, green entrepreneurship is a vital element of today's economies, as it pays increased attention to the impact on the consumer and the environment. Inevitably, this concept contributes to the establishment of an ecological economy, promoting the green economy. 3.4. Data and Descriptive Statistics of Quantitative Analysis Following the study of the literature review, as well as the results obtained in the qualitative analysis, we will further combine it with an econometric study to enhance the quality of our conclusions. In this paper, we aimed to analyze the importance of sustainable businesses in the process of global economic growth, but also the link between green entrepreneurship and the legislative framework. Following the results obtained previously, we consider it essential to identify the impact of key factors on the implementation of sustainable businesses and, therefore, the purpose of the paper is to identify to what extent green enterprises represent a sustainable business model, as well as the opportunities and challenges involved. To identify the importance of green entrepreneurship as a sustainable business model, our analysis covers 15 years (2008–2022). The data used in this research are panel data, collected from Eurostat and the World Bank, and the sample consists of the 27 member states of the European Union. To obtain the results, we used fixed-effects regression. Since, globally, small and medium-sized enterprises constitute the backbone of the economy, representing over 95% of all firms, the independent variable used as a proxy in this research is represented by the number of small and medium-sized enterprises (% of all firms). Along with this variable, other independent variables included in the analysis are also included: SMEs, GDP per capita, Quality of regulations, Rule of law, Government effectiveness, Renewable energy consumption, Domestic credit, Foreign direct investment, presented in Table 3 . The independent variables were chosen due to their representativeness. Out of a desire to identify the importance of green innovative entrepreneurship as a sustainable business model, we chose patents for environmental technologies as the dependent variable, with which we measure all environmental interventions. We chose this variable because it covers a wide range of innovations aimed at protecting the environment and ensuring the sustainability of the population. The Patents on environment technologies indicator includes information on technologies for renewable energy, energy efficiency, waste management, and pollution reduction. Table 3 Description of variables included in the analysis. Variable name Variable symbol Description Unit of measure Data source Previous results Patents on environment technologies PET The relationship between environmental interventions and domestic inventions in various technologies. % of all technologies OECD Number SMEs SMEs Number of small and medium-sized enterprises in total firms % Eurostat + GDP per capita GDP_ growth Annual GDP growth rate % The World Bank + Regulatory Quality RQ Government capacity to promote private sector development % The World Bank - Rule of Law RL Perceptions of the extent to which agents trust and follow society's rules % The World Bank +/- Government Effectiveness GE The quality of public services % The World Bank +/- Renewable energy consumption REC Share of renewable energy in total final energy consumption % total energy consumption The World Bank + Domestic credit Dom_cred Domestic credit granted to the private sector by banks % of GDP The World Bank +/- Foreign direct investment FDI Foreign direct investment, net inflows % of GDP The World Bank +/- Source: own processing based on literature review Environmental technology patents are currently a rapidly expanding field, with a particular emphasis on sustainability technologies. Oyebanji et al. ( 2022 ) analyzed the importance of environmental technology patents, demonstrating that they increase environmental sustainability in Spain. Also, Spain's economic growth contributes to environmental degradation. The number of small and medium-sized enterprises is an indicator that identifies the percentage of SMEs in the total number of existing firms in each country (including newly established firms). We chose the number of small and medium-sized enterprises to establish the dynamics of SMEs within sustainability related policy environments. Studies demonstrate that there is an interrelationship between green entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises (Melay et al., 2017 ). GDP per capita growth is a macroeconomic indicator that identifies the annual percentage rate of growth of GDP per capita. It can be used to identify the economic growth rate of each country. The literature (Kwilinski et al., 2024 ) shows the existence of a positive link between green entrepreneurship and the economic activity of the country. The quality of governance in different countries can be determined using the Global Governance Index (GGI), a composite indicator developed by the World Bank. This index is made up of six dimensions: participation and accountability, political stability and lack of violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption. Given these factors, we chose to determine the impact of public policies on entrepreneurship through the indicators of government effectiveness, regulatory quality and rule of law. Through these three indicators, we also want to demonstrate the impact of the legislative variable on the development of green innovative entrepreneurship. Thus, Regulatory Quality refers to the government's capacity to propose sound regulations to promote private sector development. The rule of law indicator presents perceptions of trust and compliance with the rules of society. The government effectiveness indicator refers to opinions on the quality of public services, the impact of political pressures. Chandel ( 2022 ); Lobonţ et al. (2021) has demonstrated the negative impact of public policies on the development of green entrepreneurship. Also, given the fact that public policies influence the entrepreneurial environment, we chose the regulator quality indicator as a proxy to identify the quality of public policies. Thus, Vasilescu et al. (2023) consider the legislative framework adopted by the government to be a significant factor for the growth of green entrepreneurship. The share of renewable energy in total final energy consumption reflects the extent to which energy from renewable sources (such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric power) contributes to overall energy use. There is a strong link between renewable energy and sustainable development (Dincer, 2000 ), which also demonstrates the existence of a link between entrepreneurship and renewable energy. Domestic credit granted to the domestic sector by banks refers to the total financial resources provided to the private sector by other institutions in the form of bank loans, trade loans, etc. We also chose the domestic credit indicator as a proxy to identify the financing of green entrepreneurship. Since the analysis is carried out at the level of the 27 European Union member states that have the largest proportion of a debt-type economy, we expect there to be a positive relationship between green entrepreneurship and bank financing. A series of authors (Roman et al., 2017 ; Nizaeva and Coskun, 2019 ; Vasilescu et al., 2023) presents both a positive and a negative relationship between bank lending and the business environment. Foreign direct investment represents investments made by foreign investors, firms or governments from other countries. Firms with foreign capital can influence both positively and negatively the number of firms in the economy (Roman et al., 2017 ; Vasilescu et al., 2023). In order to achieve the main objective of our research, we established the folloing working hypotheses: The legislative framework influences green innovative entrepreneurship. Bank loans influence green innovative entrepreneurship. The level of economic development influences sustainability. The dynamics of SMEs influence green innovative entrepreneurship. There is a positive and statistically significant relationship between renewable energy consumption and green innovative entrepreneurship. Foreign direct investment influences green innovative entrepreneurship. 3.5. Results and Discussions of the Quantitative Analysis In Table 4 we present the descriptive statistics of the variables included in the analysis. The calculations were performed using the econometric program EViews. The largest standard deviation is recorded by the foreign direct investment variable (59.86), which demonstrates that the economic and political instability in recent years influences both the measures adopted regarding environmental protection, as well as the entrepreneurial environment. Thus, we observe a reduction in foreign direct investment, as a result of the uncertainty existing at a global level. The most stable indicator, at a macroeconomic level, is represented by the GDP per capita indicator, which demonstrates that in the last 15 years there have been no significant variations in economic growth generated by green innovative entrepreneurship. Also, the variable number of SMEs records stable values, as a result of the importance of this sector in the economy and the environment. Also, the minimum negative value is also recorded by the FDI variable, which demonstrates that in the European Union countries, during the period 2008–2022, a considerable reduction in foreign direct investment was recorded. Certainly, the global economic crises, the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the political crises, along with the armed ones, generated these changes in the economy. Table 4 Descriptive statistics of the analyzed variables. Variable Min. Max. Mean Median Standard deviation Skewness Kurtosis Number of observations Patents on environment technologies 0.842697 45.20548 13.01596 12.61902 4.728091 1.258740 9.017972 370 Number SMEs 99.11170 99.95133 99.78813 99.82279 0.114021 -1.789794 8.135089 370 GDP per capita -14.46550 23.44369 1.469668 1.564420 4.149354 0.078900 5.792094 370 Regulatory Quality 60.0000 100.0000 83.73712 83.84789 10.10925 -0.203312 2.0008 370 Rule of Law 49.04762 100.0000 81.33959 83.13584 13.74903 -0.484365 2.1791 370 Government Effectiveness 41.42857 100.0000 80.87096 81.71067 13.13032 -0.701343 3.14544 370 Renewable energy consumption 0.20000 57.9000 19.99000 16.60000 11.95493 0.870384 3.1196 370 Domestic credit 24.55877 254.5517 86.81641 82.67300 43.67048 1.314332 5.1204 370 FDI -296.0132 452.2210 16.39045 2.999341 59.86791 4.076993 29.0040 370 Source: own calculations obtained using the econometric software EViews In figure no. 5 we have presented the evolution of the analyzed variables, values that confirm the results of the descriptive statistics. Thus, we observe that the foreign direct investment variable records the largest fluctuations, the largest decrease being recorded in Luxembourg, in 2020 and in Cyprus in 2008, as a result of the global economic crisis and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism. Also, significant variations were recorded by the variable domestic credit granted to the private sector by banks, which recorded major increases in 2020 in the Czech Republic and Denmark and in 2008 in Cyprus. Thus, we observe the need to access optimal sources of financing for small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the hotel and food sector. According to reports published by the OECD ( 2022 ), Denmark represents the pillar of green entrepreneurship, but despite this it faces a lack of access to financing and therefore in 2020 there was an overwhelming increase in bank loans contracted by businesses operating in this country. Source: own processing using the econometric software EViews Table 5 presents the results of the correlation analysis and we can see that green entrepreneurship is closely linked to financing and the legislative framework. Table 5 Correlation matrix. PET SMEs GDP_ Growth RQ RL GE REC Dom_ credit FDI PET 1.0000 SMEs -0.187601 1.0000 GDP_ Growth -0.041956 0.000726 1.0000 RQ 0.165240 -0.357212 -0.079506 1.0000 RL 0.076432 -0.271855 -0.127010 0.884661 1.0000 GE 0.053093 -0.223265 -0.135393 0.855095 0.938171 1.0000 REC 0.150708 -0.054271 0.034736 0.113411 0.172560 0.158226 1.0000 Dom_ credit 0.139009 0.086274 -0.325217 0.345486 0.433466 0.459068 0.012667 1.0000 FDI -0.150925 0.026971 0.101350 0.026862 0.041791 0.042649 -0.227669 0.224477 1.0000 Source: own calculations made using the econometric software EViews Table 6 presents the results of the regression analysis through which we want to identify the extent to which green entrepreneurship represents a sustainable business model and what are the opportunities and challenges involved. Thus, according to the data presented, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, Government Effectiveness and FDI are statistically significant. Based on these results, we can conclude that the quality of regulations, government effectiveness and foreign direct investment are the main factors influencing green innovative entrepreneurship at the level of European Union member countries. The results of our research demonstrate that there is no statistically significant relationship between green innovative entrepreneurship and the number of SMEs. The results are not in line with expectations, so that small and medium-sized enterprises have a positive influence on green entrepreneurship but not statistically significant. These results demonstrate that the SME sector needs to adopt additional measures in order to implement sustainable development strategies. Our results demonstrate that there is no significant relationship between per capita economic growth rate and green entrepreneurship, the latter positively contributes to a sustainable business environment. The results are not in line with expectations because we included in the analysis the period of influence of the global economic crisis, the pandemic crisis, as well as that generated by armed conflicts. The Regulatory Quality variable is statistically significant, at a confidence level of 90%, which demonstrates the existence of a link with green entrepreneurship. The impact is positive, which demonstrates that at the level of the 27 member states of the European Union, the quality of regulations is optimal and sufficient for the development of a sustainable business environment. The closer the value of this indicator is to 0, the lower the level of regulations, and the closer the value is to 100%, the more beneficial regulations are demonstrated for the business environment. Thus, the state that recorded the highest value (100%) is Denmark, a value recorded in 2009, and Greece recorded the lowest value at the European Union level in 2016 (60%). The results correspond to expectations because, as previously mentioned, Denmark records a high quality of regulations, placing particular emphasis on public policies and on the implementation of a solid business environment, paying increased attention to the promotion of innovation and digitalization. The situation in Greece has improved in recent years, indicating an average performance compared to other countries. The Rule of Law indicator registers negative values ​​and is statistically significant. Therefore, there is a significant link between this indicator and green entrepreneurship, having a negative impact on it. Thus, trust and compliance with the rules are a key element for the business environment, but as a result of political instability and permanent legislative changes, the impact is negative. The Governance Effectiveness Indicator records negative but statistically significant values, which demonstrates that there is a close relationship between governance effectiveness and a sustainable entrepreneurial environment, at a confidence level of 90%. Thus, at the European Union level, governance influences the existence of a sustainable entrepreneurial environment, the result being in line with the expected one (Lobonț et al., 2021 ). The Renewable energy consumption variable has a negative impact on the sustainable business environment and is not statistically significant. The results demonstrate that firms in the European Union member states, in the period 2008–2022, do not use renewable energy sources in overwhelming proportions. The Domestic Credit indicator is not statistically significant. Thus, green innovative entrepreneurship does not benefit from sufficient loans to obtain the optimal financing necessary for the proper functioning of this sector. Foreign direct investments are statistically significant but have a negative impact on environmental sustainability, because, as a result of the restrictions imposed in the last two decades, but also as a result of the events that affected the economies of the European Union member states, there has been a significant decrease, which has reduced the number of measures adopted regarding environmental protection. Table 6 Regression results. Variable Coefficient Std. Error t-Statistic Prob C -399.5896 388.2612 -1.029177 0.3041 SMEs 4.259524 3.896624 1.093132 0.2751 GDP_growth 0.003899 0.057883 0.067362 0.9463 Regulatory Quality 0.161423* 0.084190 1.917375 0.0560 Rule of Law -0.162138* 0.091919 -1.763918 0.0787 Government Effectiveness -0.142914* 0.078815 -1.813277 0.0707 Renewable energy consumption -0.096544 0.065343 -1.477489 0.1405 Domestic credit 0.009645 0.012657 0.762037 0.4466 Foreign direct investment -0.007859* 0.004378 -1.795190 0.0735 R-squared 0.381577 Mean dependent var 13.01596 Adjusted R-squared 0.318812 S.D. dependent var 4.728091 S.E. of regression 3.902289 Akaike info criterion 5.650821 Sum squared resid 5101.334 Schwarz criterion 6.021017 Log likelihood -1010.402 Hannan-Quinn criter. 5.797866 F-statistic 6.079423 Durbin-Watson stat 1.836477 Prob (F-statistic) 0.000000 Source: own calculations using the econometric software EViews *, ** and *** indicate that the coefficients are statistically significant at the 90, 95% and 99% levels According to the R-squared value, we find that 38.15% of the variation in environmental protection and sustainability promotion measures is influenced by the variation in the independent variables. In conclusion, the variables analyzed in this paper have a moderate impact on sustainability. Thus, our first hypothesis (1: the legislative framework influences green entrepreneurship) is valid. The regulatory quality variable is statistically significant, which demonstrates the existence of a link between public policies and green entrepreneurship. In other words, the existence of legislative regulations can lead to an increase in green strategies adopted by the entrepreneurial environment. Hypothesis 2 Bank loans influence green entrepreneurship is not valid. Thus, companies that adopt green strategies do not benefit from optimal access to financing. In order to benefit from optimal access to financing, governments have proposed financing programs. For example, at the level of Romania, through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, it was proposed to provide funds to small and medium-sized enterprises that implement solutions to reduce the impact on the environment. Also, innovations aimed at protecting the environment and promoting sustainability must benefit from adequate financing. However, there is no significant link between the two concepts, financing being insufficient. Hypothesis 3 The level of economic development influences sustainability, which was not confirmed by our study, the level of economic development not influencing environmental protection and sustainable innovative entrepreneurship. Hypothesis 4 The dynamics of SMEs influence green innovative entrepreneurship, has not been confirmed. Thus, there is no significant relationship between the number of enterprises and green entrepreneurship, which demonstrates the importance of the measures adopted and not the number of firms. Hypothesis 5 There is a positive and statistically significant relationship between renewable energy consumption and green innovative entrepreneurship is not valid. Thus, renewable energy consumption does not influence green entrepreneurship, as renewable energy also produces a series of difficulties for the business environment, including from the perspective of initial costs and unsuitable climate. Hypothesis 6 Foreign direct investment influences green innovative entrepreneurship, which is valid because it contributes to the challenge and development of this concept. In conclusion, the evidence suggests that the main factors influencing the sustainability of the business environment are Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, Government Effectiveness and FDI. Thus, public policies and interventions, together with good governance, influence the sustainable environment. The results of our work demonstrate the need for an optimal legislative framework, including the existence of state-funded programs through which the entrepreneurial environment benefits from optimal access to financing. Thus, green entrepreneurship can be financed both through traditional financing methods (bank loans) and by providing special-purpose subsidies from governments. The European Union promotes green entrepreneurship through programs integrated into the European Green Deal, to which are added other types of programs: the Local and Regional Initiatives, the Life Program. Considering these aspects, the European Union initiatives are joined by the European Central Bank, which proposes a series of activities for climate financing: the use of renewable energy, energy efficiency, efficient transport, green buildings, etc. 4. Conclusions Our research demonstrates that Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, Government Effectiveness and FDI have a significant impact on green innovative entrepreneurship. Currently, several sectors within green entrepreneurship are enjoying notable success. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have developed innovative solutions in areas such as renewable energy, organic agriculture and waste management.These efforts contribute not only to environmental protection, but also to job creation and economic growth. A key lesson for SMEs is that innovation plays a central role in green entrepreneurship. Without the integration of new technologies, environmental and economic performance cannot be improved. Our research results also highlight the importance of digitalizing the business environment, optimal support from governments to promote the green economy, with the regulatory framework playing a vital role. Legislation significantly affects both the feasibility and financing of green businesses. Companies need to be informed about legal requirements and take advantage of government support programs. Our paper highlighted the current problems faced by the business environment in adopting the principles of supporting green entrepreneurship. We also identified insufficient analysis of this concept in the literature review. Several obstacles encountered by entrepreneurs in promoting green entrepreneurship were identified, including: retaining employees, developing new products and services, generating business partnerships, expanding into other markets, accessing new sources of financing. Based on the results, we demonstrated the importance of governments in adopting solutions to support and promote green entrepreneurship, without additional costs. Bank loans and government-subsidized programs remain crucial sources of funding. Firms need well structured business plans to access these resources effectively. Our results have shown that government decisions are closely linked to business performance and economic growth, so it is of vital importance to increase entrepreneurial education, especially in order to promote female entrepreneurship. Green entrepreneurship represents a sustainable business model, but which generates both opportunities and challenges for the business environment. Based on the results obtained, we conclude that the legislative framework plays a crucial role in promoting green innovative entrepreneurship. With well-structured regulations and facilitated access to appropriate financing, green entrepreneurship is expected to continue developing in the coming years. Abbreviations The following abbreviations are used in this manuscript: GDP Gross Domestic Product SMEs Small and medium-sized enterprise OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development GNI Gross National Income USA United States of America OLS Ordinary Least Squares RQ Regulatory Quality RL Rule of Law GE Government Effectiveness REC Renewable energy consumption FDI Foreign direct investment Declarations Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable. Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable. Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Funding: This research received no external funding. Author Contribution conceptualization, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D.; methodology, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D.; literature review, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D., software, M.O., F.O., E.M.D.; validation, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D.; analysis, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D.; interpretations, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D.; resources, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D.; data curation, M.O., F.O., E.M.D.; writing—original draft preparation, M.O., F.O., E.M.D.; visualization, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D.; supervision, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Data Availability The data supporting the current article are available upon request. References Alwakid, W., Alwakid, W., Aparicio, S. (2021). The Influence of Green Entrepreneurship on Sustainable Development in Saudi Arabia: The Role of Formal Institutions. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , 18 (10), https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18105433 . Bennett, S.J. (1991). 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International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal , 18, 255–275, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-021-00757-3 . Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 21 Apr, 2026 Read the published version in Future Business Journal → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8480258","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":569085030,"identity":"586a0b68-d690-4647-aa1a-7324cbf260a8","order_by":0,"name":"Mihaela Onofrei","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAq0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJCCDwwMEnIMDIwNROtgnAHUYkyyFoZE4tXzSzcfbK6osEjfcPxw4wfGPTaEtUjOOZbYeOaMRO6GM4nNEgzP0ghrMbiRY/6wsQ2o5UBiGwPDgcNEaTFsbPwnkW5w/iFJWhokEgxuEGuL5Iy0xMaGYxKGM288bJZIOECEX/glkg82NtTUyfOdT3/44cMBIkIMFSSQqmEUjIJRMApGAXYAAA6vPLpC8t6lAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"\"Alexandru Ioan Cuza\" University of Iasi","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mihaela","middleName":"","lastName":"Onofrei","suffix":""},{"id":569085031,"identity":"9460a3c6-df3d-44e8-9967-bf416664a0d6","order_by":1,"name":"Florin Oprea","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"\"Alexandru Ioan Cuza\" University of Iasi","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Florin","middleName":"","lastName":"Oprea","suffix":""},{"id":569085034,"identity":"534f99f1-df01-4f98-a695-78c9ec99352e","order_by":2,"name":"Erika-Maria 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13:31:27","extension":"png","order_by":16,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":54127,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8480258/v1/4672929cf1197d0f534be96e.png"},{"id":99597084,"identity":"d2a5292c-cb96-45ec-bb55-67ee2e348ad0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-06 09:49:12","extension":"xml","order_by":17,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":175603,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"56ed2aa897864930aa010c4e8dca595b1structuring.xml","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8480258/v1/3b8651706fbe894497e676a5.xml"},{"id":99597085,"identity":"b1ae4842-8f55-4369-a945-21aa7d7b8720","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-06 09:49:12","extension":"html","order_by":18,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":187908,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"earlyproof.html","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8480258/v1/f51fe466bed665d33e9a7bee.html"},{"id":99597062,"identity":"21cf50bf-500e-4bfb-929a-4b1c40d620ea","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-06 09:49:12","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":69659,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eEvolution of the number of publications in the field of green entrepreneurship, between January 2002 and May 2025.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSource: Scopus database\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8480258/v1/ed05d1212372b33dfa0fd5c8.png"},{"id":99597066,"identity":"63baf0ce-0d97-40e7-b721-cac4a2953b44","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-06 09:49:12","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":170402,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eAreas of analysis.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSource: processing according to the Scopus database\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8480258/v1/3399e55795fab057baf79982.png"},{"id":99597065,"identity":"6101acc6-ebab-4e1d-8173-fcb53892858b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-06 09:49:12","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":227137,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eKeyword co-occurrence matrix.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSource: own creation using VOSviewer software\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8480258/v1/ef55c8a3e45acc992f775ca2.png"},{"id":99793829,"identity":"076f97c5-0f61-40b7-9428-69919cda1f5d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-08 13:32:31","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":181158,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eCountry co-occurrence matrix.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSource: own creation using VOSviewer software\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8480258/v1/bf7c3f198497cefc512339cc.png"},{"id":99792991,"identity":"f23755e1-9431-4405-bc98-8f7612377fcc","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-08 13:30:47","extension":"png","order_by":5,"title":"Figure 5","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":176029,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eEvolution of variables in the European Union member states, during the period 2008-2022.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSource: own processing using the econometric software EViews\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"5.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8480258/v1/1a2c978cdb0fe800984f72df.png"},{"id":108008719,"identity":"33a91fc8-ac07-46da-bdbc-56335a0efeae","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-28 13:08:08","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1410010,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8480258/v1/8d257182-930b-4870-a562-8a4f2d8c51b9.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Green Entrepreneurship as a Sustainable Business Model: Key Lessons for SMEs","fulltext":[{"header":"1. Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEntrepreneurship plays a particularly important role in the progress of societies. Thus, at a global level, the economy has registered a permanent growth, but has left its mark on the environment. Under these conditions, there is currently a strong contradiction between economic development and environmental degradation. Therefore, in recent years, increased attention has been paid to green entrepreneurship in both developed and developing countries, considering green training as an important issue for treating the environment. Furthermore, entrepreneurial activity enables enterprises to contribute to the green transition by addressing the social and ecological challenges specific to each country.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAs a result of these considerations, the purpose of our research is to identify the determinants of green innovative entrepreneurship. Thus, our main research question is: What is the importance of the legislative framework in promoting a sustainable business environment? Starting from this main question, we identified other questions of our research: What is the link between green innovative entrepreneurship and economic growth?; Is there a link between small and medium-sized enterprises and green innovative entrepreneurship?; Do bank loans influence green entrepreneurship?; Does foreign direct investment influence green entrepreneurship?; Does renewable energy consumption influence green entrepreneurship?.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe continous development of the economy at a global level intensifies the problems generated by energy consumption, environmental pollution, as well as the social effects generated on the population. Therefore, sustainable development, supported by the government, the population, and the business sector, is of imperative importance.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSustainable development contributes to economic growth and to the improvement of environmental quality, constituting the strategic objective at a global level. Since green entrepreneurship contributes to the improvement of the traditional business model, it represents the main pillar of the sustainable development of the economy, environment and society (Domanska et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eUnder these circumstances, growing public and governmental awareness, along with alignment to global environmental protection standards, has prompted the entrepreneurial sector to place greater emphasis on green strategies. Therefore, currently, at a global level, governments pay special attention to achieving sustainable development goals. However, effective sustainable development is indicated to cover present needs, but without compromising the needs of future generations (Alwakid et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). In this regard, the expenditures that governments must make, along with the decisions adopted regarding subsidies, respectively, the collection of additional taxes and fees in order to obtain results favorable to achieving sustainable development goals, must not generate the presence of a budget deficit. The measures that the state adopts to support and promote green entrepreneurship must not generate a burdensome effect on the population and entrepreneurs. The existence of a correlation between subsidy mechanisms and government sanctions can contribute to the adoption of innovative behaviors.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eRecent events affecting both the macro and micro environment\u0026mdash;including the COVID-19 pandemic, economic crises, armed conflicts, and climate change\u0026mdash;have underscored the critical importance of continuous collaboration among the business sector, governments, and consumers in adopting and implementing sustainable development strategies. Thus, green entrepreneurship and sustainable development are closely linked (Johnson and Schaltegger, 2020). Since green entrepreneurship is often associated with both environmental and social goals, there is an overlap between green and social entrepreneurship. Given these aspects, green entrepreneurship initiatives are oriented towards solving environmental problems, combating global warming, as well as the use of green energy and the implementation of various recycling methods (Teran-Yepez, 2020). As a result of the fact that worldwide, over 99.5% of all companies are small and medium-sized enterprises, both entrepreneurs and the political factor must pay special attention to the implementation of strategies for adopting green entrepreneurship. The aforementioned aspects are supported by the positive effects that this sector generates in the economy: it employs over 65% of the population, thus contributing to the reduction of the unemployment rate, and contributes over 58% to the country's GDP, making an overwhelming contribution to economic growth.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eStatistics show that entrepreneurs are now integrating sustainable practices into their business models, as a result of financial performance and the impact of their activities on the environment (Kartiko et al., 2022). Thus, green entrepreneurship contributes to promoting sustainability and innovation in order to achieve economic and environmental objectives, thus contributing to the achievement of the SDGs (Reniati and Faisal, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR38\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e). In recent years, a significant number of companies have been contributing to sustainable development through their actions. Thus, in order to achieve the sustainable development goals and to achieve an effective transition, the private sector plays an essential role (Ramadani et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). Since the private sector is mostly represented by small and medium-sized enterprises, this sector has an overwhelming contribution in the field of sustainable development (Troise, 2024).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe paper is structured in 3 main parts: theoretical analysis, methodology used and practical study. Within the theoretical analysis, we conducted studies of specialized articles that analyzed green entrepreneurship. In the methodological part, we conducted a qualitative and quantitative analysis in order to achieve the research goal. The practical part highlights the main results, emphasizing the importance of the existence of a sustainable business environment in the economy, as well as the need for its support from governments.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"2. Exploring Green Entrepreneurship. A Review of the Literature","content":"\u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe 1972 Stockholm Declaration, adopted under the United Nations Environment Programme, marked a significant intensification of global environmental protection efforts. Since then, the approach to sustainable development issues has evolved to include the following topics: eco-entrepreneurship, environmental entrepreneurship, sustainable entrepreneurship and green SMEs (Blue, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1990\u003c/span\u003e; Bennett, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1991\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGlobally, one of the most pressing challenges is the fight against climate change, which demands active engagement from both entrepreneurs and consumers, requiring the reorientation of production processes and the adoption of sustainable consumption models. Thus, in this context, entrepreneurs are also considered the driving force, due to their ability to innovate, but the impact of political decision makers is also essential in order to adopt measures that allow for increased business performance. Given these considerations, governments in OECD countries have adopted a series of policies in recent years to stimulate the transition of the business environment towards a green economy. Among the main measures identified are: the creation and expansion of green markets, legislative changes, political commitments (OECD, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). The results of the study indicate that adopting integrated governance models is essential, as green entrepreneurship relies on national government support, underscoring the need for partnerships between the public and private sectors.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOne such example is Israel, where there is a collaboration between the Israeli Innovation Authority, the government and the private sector. In this regard, the need for permanent support for green entrepreneurship is highlighted, because among the biggest problems facing this sector are the lack of optimal access to finance and the management of intellectual property. The study conducted by the OECD presents the situation in Denmark, which represents the pillar of green entrepreneurship, being supported by the legislative framework, but which, contrary to expectations, faces obstacles regarding access to finance and small internal markets. Therefore, among the actions taken in Denmark to strengthen green entrepreneurship are (OECD, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e):\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cp\u003esupport for green entrepreneurship by the national government and local authorities, in partnership with the private sector and non-governmental organizations;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cp\u003eimplementation of a single portal to support green entrepreneurs;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cp\u003edevelopment of business incubators and accelerators to establish new businesses to support the adoption of wind energy technologies and energy efficiency.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/li\u003e \u003c/ul\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConsidering these aspects, the following factors have been identified that have the role of stimulating green entrepreneurship: providing personalized financial support for entrepreneurs, implementing high reporting standards, determining the price of carbon, inclusive entrepreneurship, as well as changes in consumer preferences.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe concept of sustainable development emerged in response to growing environmental concerns. Thus, the sustainable development goals were stability, with the aim of transforming the world by addressing the challenges faced by the population, in order to ensure well-being, economic prosperity and environmental protection. In this regard, in 2015, the United Nations General Assembly approved the SDGs that emphasize the interconnected environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable development, paying special attention to sustainability.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFrom an analytical perspective, these goals refer to: no poverty; zero hunger; good health and well-being; quality education; gender equality; clean water and sanitation; affordable and clean energy; decent work and economic growth; industry, innovation and infrastructure; reduced inequalities; sustainable cities and communities; responsible consumption and production; climate action; life below water; life on land; peace, justice and strong institutions; and partnerships for the goals (\u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://sdgs.un.org/\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://sdgs.un.org/\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Sustainable Development Goals have highlighted the importance of the green economy within the framework of sustainable development and poverty reduction, particularly through the involvement of the entrepreneurial sector, and this aspect has motivated our study.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGreen Project (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e) defines green entrepreneurship as representing the totality of activities that address environmental or social issues using entrepreneurial ideas that have a superior benefit on the environment and financial sustainability. In other words, green entrepreneurship represents an innovative way of approaching business, which includes ecological elements in all stages of the company. Thus, green entrepreneurship represents an effective solution to solve the problems related to the existence of a high degree of pollution in society. The literature in the field has identified the existence of a strong link between the practice of ecological principles by companies and their performance. Thus, in the last decade, increased attention has been paid to innovation for environmental sustainability. However, there are a number of factors that influence the adoption of innovations by companies: company size, managerial characteristics, industrial sector (Gonzalez-Benito and Gonzalez-Benito, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2006\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAlso, Gevrenova (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e) defines green entrepreneurship as the activities of a company to produce environmentally friendly products, to reduce costs by efficiently using natural resources, to adopt techniques to reduce energy consumption. Other authors (Maisaroh et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e) have analyzed the determinants of the adoption of green entrepreneurship behavior. Thus, the main factors identified were personality traits, psychological factors, contextual factors. Also, green entrepreneurship comes from the combination of the essential characteristics of entrepreneurship (risk, innovation, flexibility) along with the ecological and social commitment of entrepreneurs. Other authors consider green entrepreneurship as sustainable entrepreneurship, also constituting an essential component of sustainable development and an intersection of traditional, social and sustainable entrepreneurship.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAccording to the analyses carried out by Green Entrepreneurship Training, there are a number of differences and similarities between entrepreneurship and green entrepreneurship (\u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.green-entrepreneurship.online/\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.green-entrepreneurship.online/\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e). Thus, both share common forms of strategy and organization, general environmental factors (market size, capital requirements, socio-cultural factors, communication etc.), and the personality of the entrepreneur. However, there are also a number of significant differences between the two concepts, such that green entrepreneurship is oriented towards the green economy and sustainable development, green products, green services, green processes, green solutions.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOther authors (Demirel et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e) have analyzed the factors that influence the decision making behavior of green startups. Among the factors with particular impact are industry life cycles, institutions, and external financing.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSince small and medium-sized enterprises are considered the engine of economic growth, having an overwhelming contribution to the creation of added value at the global level, Ebrahimi and Mirbargkar (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e) analyzed the relationship between eco-innovation and the development of small and medium-sized enterprises under conditions of market uncertainty regarding the role of eco-entrepreneurship. The results of the study demonstrated that there is a significant relationship between eco-innovation and the development of the small and medium-sized enterprise sector.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOther authors (Yang, 2021) have analyzed the importance of government regulations in promoting eco-innovative behaviors, demonstrating the importance of subsidy mechanisms along with government penalties in order to disperse these behaviors. Statistics (World Bank, 2024) demonstrate that in recent years there has been a considerable increase in environmental problems, as well as labor crises. Since economic growth is a key vector of economic policies with a direct and positive impact on the labor force and economic well-being, the presence of changes and the adoption of solutions is essential. However, the changes that occur can affect the environment, but generate positive effects for the business environment. Therefore, green entrepreneurship aims to solve these problems and authors such as Chandel (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e) have analyzed the relationship between entrepreneurship and the decisions adopted at the level of each country, as well as the relationship between social and traditional entrepreneurship with state institutions. The results demonstrated the existence of a relationship between green entrepreneurship and sustainable development, as well as between government decisions and green entrepreneurship. Thus, policymakers must propose solutions for the adoption of green behavior by both customers and the business environment, in order to generate an economically and ecologically sustainable society.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eInternational organizations recognize the importance of implementing policies to promote the adoption of a green economy at the global level. Thus, other opinions (Farinelli et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2011\u003c/span\u003e) consider that the green economy should not be imposed, but should be led by entrepreneurs who benefit from political incentives, thus generating significant benefits for society and the environment, as well as for the transformation of an entire industry. The authors' results demonstrate the need for governments to adopt decisions that create a favorable environment for innovations for an entire sector and not subsidize only niche markets.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOther authors (Lodhi et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e) conducted a bibliometric analysis to analyze the relationship between innovation-sustainability and green entrepreneurship. The results demonstrated the existence of a strong connection between these concepts.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAlso, a series of authors (Lobonț et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e) analyzed the impact of good governance on entrepreneurship at the European Union level, depending on the human development index and the number of years of schooling, using principal component analysis and regression as the main methodology. The authors considered in the analysis the achievement of sustainable development objectives, which involves governments, the private sector and citizens. The results of the regression analysis demonstrate the existence of an indirect impact of public governance on the demography of the business environment, which demonstrates that public policies do not support entrepreneurship in order to develop it. It was also demonstrated the lack of citizen involvement in adopting decisions to support entrepreneurship. Alwakid et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e) analyzed the impact of entrepreneurial activity on sustainable development, starting from institutional economics. The results of the study demonstrated that green entrepreneurship positively influences the economic, social and environmental framework of sustainable development. Given these results, the need for future government involvement in supporting green entrepreneurship is thus demonstrated.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAlso, Kwilinski et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e) analyzed the impact of green entrepreneurship on green economic development, the results demonstrating the existence of a positive relationship between economic development and green entrepreneurship. To obtain these results, the authors used a series of explanatory variables: the number of patents in environmental technologies in order to understand the importance of technological innovation in stimulating environmental sustainability and economic growth, along with GNI, which measured the wellbeing of a country and its ability to support green entrepreneurship through optimal financial resources (Gracia and Siregar, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Another variable used is trade openness, which aims to establish the involvement of a country in international transactions.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOther authors (Yin et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR49\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e) analyzed the relationship between green innovation and the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises. The analysis was conducted for 1667 companies listed on the Chinese stock exchange and the results showed that innovation based on green utility models influences the performance of SMEs and innovation based on inventions does not have a major impact on the performance of this sector. It was also shown that older companies benefit more from innovation based on green inventions compared to younger companies. As a result of these results, the characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises are highlighted: adaptability, flexibility, but also the barriers faced by newly established companies.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eConsidering the impact of small and medium-sized enterprises in the economy, Vasilescu et al. (2023) conducted a study on 7326 companies from 36 countries to identify the factors that influence the stimulation of green entrepreneurship. Thus, as a result of applying a logistic regression model, the research results demonstrated that the main factors with an impact on green entrepreneurship are the age of the company, its financial performance, the level of economic development of the country along with the stimulation measures adopted by the government. It was also demonstrated that the decisive factor on the growth of green entrepreneurship is represented by accessing optimal financing, since companies operating in less developed countries encounter numerous barriers in the process of developing new ecological products and services, thus support programs dedicated to the implementation of green entrepreneurship are essential.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe performance of countries that adhered to the 2009 OECD Declaration on Green Growth demonstrates a decline in innovation activity since 2011, after significant progress recorded in 2000. Currently, the main suppliers of green technologies are emerging countries, but despite this, countries such as China and India are experiencing overwhelming growth. Capozza and Samson (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e) demonstrated that emerging countries show significant growth in markets for environmental goods and services, but nevertheless, the presence of environmental regulations, prices, green public procurement, and eco-labeling is necessary.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMelay et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e) analyzed the relationship between entrepreneurship and green entrepreneurship, as well as the determinants, on a sample of 10 small and medium-sized enterprises in Czechoslovakia. The results of the analysis show the existence of a strong interrelationship between the two concepts, with entrepreneurship having an essential role within green enterprises. Despite this, green enterprises are restricted from operating effectively by legislative instabilities and bureaucracy existing in the external environment.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePurwandani and Michaud (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e) analyzed the factors that determine the implementation of green practices by SMEs in the USA, using questionnaires. The results of the study demonstrated that the main factors with a direct impact on small and medium-sized enterprises are internal motivations and the creation of a favorable image in the market. However, factors with a negative impact were also identified: lack of capital in the implementation of green business practices.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOther authors (Rodrigues and Franco \u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e) have analyzed the techniques adopted by small and medium-sized enterprises in order to implement innovation activities. The results of the study have demonstrated that it is necessary for current companies to change their traditional business models and adopt sustainable models, which demonstrates the need for the involvement of the public sector in partnership with the private sector. Thus, in the field of business, the need for innovation is proven. The impact of innovation on technological products involves making improvements in design, quality, reducing emissions, efficient use of energy, using biodegradable packaging, etc. (Hellstrom, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2007\u003c/span\u003e). Also, industry 4.0. has generated in recent years a considerable increase in companies adopting sustainable business models. Thus, Pizzi et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e), following the completion of case studies, analyzed the relationship between Fintech applications and the circular economy, the results demonstrating that Fintech applications contribute to the transition of SMEs to a sustainable business. Lopes de Sousa Jabbour et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e), demonstrated that the advances generated by the industry 4.0 revolution adopted by SMEs contribute to sustainable and circular economies.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eStarting from the idea that sustainable entrepreneurship leads to business performance (Soto-Acosta et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR41\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e), the main factors impacting the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises are the approaches of enterprises towards people, the planet and the profit obtained.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe interest in the environment and society demonstrates the need to adopt perspectives on the production and sale of products and services, and therefore, green innovation is important for the implementation of sustainable development (Castillo-Benancio et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Thus, environmental issues influence both society and business performance. Muangmee et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e) analyzed the influence of the adoption of green innovations on business performance, demonstrating that green innovations have the strongest influence on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAt the national level in Romania, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for the majority of climate-related loans, which they use to finance investments in renewable energy, efficient transport, and green buildings. In recent years, the volume of such loans has increased, primarily due to the growing number of SMEs in the construction sector contracting climate-related financing. Thus, green financing is perceived as an essential condition for obtaining financing, being provided by both the banking sector and international financial institutions. Mukherjee et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e) analyzed the financing of green startups, using a systematic literature review methodology. The results demonstrated the contracting of a diversity of financing sources, including equity and crowdfunding, but nevertheless there is a dependence on public financing.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eLast but not least, Şandor and Creţa (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR42\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e) have analyzed the evolution of governance quality in Romania, by performing principal component analysis, demonstrating the existence of a link between this factor and the six indicators (participation and accountability, political stability, governance effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption) but nevertheless the rule of law, governance effectiveness and control of corruption register the strongest contribution. Also, Trigkas et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e) have analyzed the existing link between green entrepreneurship and its impact on the competitiveness of this sector, the results demonstrating its positive impact on increasing the competitiveness of firms operating in the furniture sector in Greece. Other authors (Drago and Gatto, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e) have analyzed the impact of promoting energy efficient technologies on supporting sustainable entrepreneurship, the results demonstrating the existence of a positive relationship between energy efficiency and entrepreneurship.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"3. Research Methodology: An Integrative Analysis of Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec4\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.1. Research Objectives\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSince green innovative entrepreneurship is a relatively new concept, our literature review revealed that only a limited number of studies have addressed this field.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTherefore, in this research we conducted a quantitative analysis by conducting a bibliometric study. In line with business models, we narrowed the research scope by analyzing journals in the field through keywords, titles, and abstracts. Thus, in this research, we applied the PRISMA analysis, consisting of the four stages (identification, screening, eligibility and inclusion) in order to select a representative sample.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe search and selection of papers was carried out using the Scopus database. In order to search and select papers, we used the maximum time interval for which articles were available. Thus, our analysis covers papers published between 2002 and 2025. The key words representative of the subject of our research are: green entrepreneurship, sustainability. For our analysis interval (2002\u0026ndash;2025), 441 papers relevant to our subject of analysis were identified. Through this analysis, we also want to identify the impact of green financing on the business environment, respectively on sustainable development, determining the relationship between green innovative entrepreneurship and economic growth.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGiven the current state of knowledge, the main objective of this paper is to explore the significance of green entrepreneurship in promoting sustainable economic growth, as well as to explore the potential impact of the legislative framework on its dynamics in the business environment.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAs a result of identifying the research topic, the main objective of the paper, we established the following possible working hypotheses, which are related to the secondary objectives and which contributed to the process of selecting the working variables:\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eObjective 1\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe importance of green innovative entrepreneurship on economic growth.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSince the business environment, but especially small and medium-sized enterprises, have an overwhelming contribution to economic growth, it is essential to establish the existing connection between the effort made by entrepreneurs to implement this concept and the effects generated in the economy.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eObjective 2\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe importance of the legislative framework in promoting entrepreneurship.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe legislative framework influences all sectors of activity. Given that legislation is constantly evolving and strongly influenced by political factors, it is essential to analyze the current legal framework governing the implementation of green innovative entrepreneurship principles.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eObjective 3\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe importance of small and medium-sized enterprises in the development of the circular economy.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGlobally, small and medium-sized enterprises represent the \u0026ldquo;backbone\u0026rdquo; of the economy. Thus, they support the economy at a global level, by creating new jobs, by generating added value in the economy, as well as by the flexibility of this sector. Therefore, due to the characteristics they present, small and medium-sized enterprises can easily adapt to the changes that occur. In the last decade, this sector has faced insufficient access to external financing, thus having to meet the conditions imposed in order to obtain green financing.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec5\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.2. Data and methodology\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGiven these considerations, we regard it as critically important to conduct a systematic review of the obstacles and opportunities associated with the implementation of green innovative entrepreneurship. Therefore, we have highlighted the evolution of articles published in the period 2002\u0026ndash;2025 on the topic of green entrepreneurship, noting a reduced number of publications in the period 2002\u0026ndash;2014 (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e). Starting with 2014, a constant increase in publications can be observed, as a result of paying increased attention to this concept. Thus, this increase is due to decisions adopted by governments on the obligation of the entrepreneurial environment to adopt environmental protection measures.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAmong these measures we can identify the use of biodegradable packaging, the reduction of greenhouse gases, the reduction of energy consumption and the use of renewable sources, the support of a hybrid work system, the use of alternative transportation etc. Also, in order to support a sustainable economic and social environment, governmental authorities has imposed the payment of additional taxes and duties for both the business environment and citizens in order to reduce the negative impact on the environment.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSource: Scopus database\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAccording to the available data, 11 fields were identified within which green entrepreneurship is analyzed (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e). Thus, in the field of business and management, increased attention is paid to this concept (22.7%), followed by social sciences (16.2%), an aspect that demonstrates the imperative nature of adopting techniques to protect the environment and society. The results demonstrate that sectors such as art (1.3%) and mathematics (1.5%) pay little attention to this concept, as a result of the impossibility of implementing measures to protect the economic and social environment in these sectors of activity. Since it is proven that globally, small and medium-sized enterprises represent 99.8% of all companies, employ over 60% of the workforce and contribute over 55% to added value, companies operating in the field of business and management adopt measures to adopt the circular economy (SAFE, 2024).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSource: processing according to the Scopus database\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTo refine the results, we applied a minimum coincidence threshold equal to 1, obtained from the keywords and abstracts, resulting in 1146 terms. We subsequently extracted the first 1000 terms and performed a manual selection of them, eliminating the linking words, resulting in 810 terms. Following the export of works from the Scopus database, using the bibliometric program VOSviewer, Table \u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e presents the first 15 terms identified, demonstrating the degree of association with other terms. Thus, the total strength of the link is represented by the number of links of a word. Therefore, according to the information presented, the main notions of interest are: \"green entrepreneurship\", \"sustainable development\", \"sustainability\", \"SME's\", etc. Thus, the most common keyword is \u0026ldquo;green entrepreneurship\u0026rdquo; which appeared in 214 publications and was combined with 897 other words. The second most common keyword was \u0026ldquo;sustainable development\u0026rdquo; which appeared in 44 papers and was combined with 202 other words.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCommon keywords.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"4\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCrt. No.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTerm\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNumber of appearances\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTotal bond strength\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003egreen entrepreneurship\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e214\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e897\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003esustainable development\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e44\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e202\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003esustainability\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e40\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e201\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eentrepreneurship\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e30\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e132\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003egreen innovation\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e113\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003esustainable entrepreneurship\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e21\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e89\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003egreen entrepreneurial orientation\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e25\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e76\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003einnovation\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e64\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eenvironment\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e62\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003egreen economy\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e17\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e56\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eecopreneurship\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e53\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003esme\u0026rsquo;s\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e49\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003esocial entrepreneurship\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e49\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003egreen entrepreneurial intentions\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e45\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eentrepreneurship education\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e43\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSource: own work based on the Scopus database\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec6\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.3. Results and discussions of the qualitative analysis\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFollowing these steps, the keyword co-occurrence matrix was generated (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e). The nodes are obtained by including the analyzed terms, their size demonstrating their importance. Therefore, the greater the frequency and size of the term, the greater the importance it is assigned in the analysis. Also, the distance between the nodes demonstrates the connections between the terms, so that the smaller the distance, the stronger the connection. According to the results presented in the co-occurrence matrix, there is a close connection between the terms green innovative entrepreneurship, sme's, fintech, education, sustainable business, green economy, energy efficiency. Given the large distance between terms such as \"economic crisis\" and \"business dynamics\", we conclude that not all events in the macroeconomic environment influence green innovative entrepreneurship.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSource: own creation using VOSviewer software\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe analysis resulted in 67 clusters, the most important ones being included in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e. Cluster no. 1 is represented by the main keyword \"Green Entrepreneurship\", cluster no. 2 - sustainable development, cluster no. 3 - sustainability, cluster no. 4 - entrepreneurship, cluster no. 5 - green innovation, etc. The articles included in the first cluster paid special attention to green entrepreneurship, being related to small and medium-sized enterprises, business dynamics, equity financing. Cluster no. 2 highlights the digital economy and the green economy, respectively green entrepreneurship, which demonstrates the importance of digitizing the business environment. As for cluster no. 3, it highlights the importance of entrepreneurial education and women entrepreneurs. The yellow cluster presents the need for the existence of company performance and government decisions.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe green cluster demonstrates the existence of a link between the circular economy and environmental values, an aspect that highlights the importance of the business environment adopting decisions to protect the environment.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eConsidering these aspects, the five clusters identified by us in this analysis equally highlight the opportunities and constraints generated by the implementation of environmental and social protection techniques by the business environment.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 2\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMain clusters of keyword co-occurrence.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"3\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eClusters\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eKey words\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFirst associated words\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGray\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGreen entrepreneurship,\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003egreen economy\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSME\u0026rsquo;s, Institution, bricolage, business dynamics, equity financing, circular plastic economy\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eOrange\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDigital economy\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGreen economy, green entreprenurship\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eBlue\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEntrepreneurship education\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eWomen entrepreneurs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYellow\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFirm performance\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGovernment decisions\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVerdant\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCircular economy\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEnvironmental values, theory of planned behavior\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"3\"\u003eSource: author's own creation using VOSviewer software\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe co-occurrence matrix of countries that pay special attention to the concept of green entrepreneurship is presented in figure no. 4. Thus, we observe a strong correlation among the countries located on the left side of the map, which show greater attention to this concept. As a result of this analysis, 14 clusters emerged, established after 88 countries. According to the results, globally, China has benefited from increased attention paid to this concept.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSource: own creation using VOSviewer software\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThus, in the process of economic growth, green entrepreneurship plays a particularly important role. Through the measures adopted by governments (fiscal incentives, accessing green financing, levying taxes and duties), green entrepreneurship has recorded a constant evolution in recent years. Despite this, entrepreneurs perceive these measures either as opportunities for the development of their businesses or as obstacles, because in some situations they involve additional costs. Thus, currently, especially in economically developed countries, green entrepreneurship benefits from constant support from both governments and customers and entrepreneurs. Given these considerations, but also as a sum of the results obtained in the keyword co-occurrence matrix, there was a strong link between green entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGiven the results of our analysis, green entrepreneurship is a vital element of today's economies, as it pays increased attention to the impact on the consumer and the environment. Inevitably, this concept contributes to the establishment of an ecological economy, promoting the green economy.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec7\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.4. Data and Descriptive Statistics of Quantitative Analysis\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFollowing the study of the literature review, as well as the results obtained in the qualitative analysis, we will further combine it with an econometric study to enhance the quality of our conclusions. In this paper, we aimed to analyze the importance of sustainable businesses in the process of global economic growth, but also the link between green entrepreneurship and the legislative framework. Following the results obtained previously, we consider it essential to identify the impact of key factors on the implementation of sustainable businesses and, therefore, the purpose of the paper is to identify to what extent green enterprises represent a sustainable business model, as well as the opportunities and challenges involved.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTo identify the importance of green entrepreneurship as a sustainable business model, our analysis covers 15 years (2008\u0026ndash;2022). The data used in this research are panel data, collected from Eurostat and the World Bank, and the sample consists of the 27 member states of the European Union. To obtain the results, we used fixed-effects regression.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSince, globally, small and medium-sized enterprises constitute the backbone of the economy, representing over 95% of all firms, the independent variable used as a proxy in this research is represented by the number of small and medium-sized enterprises (% of all firms). Along with this variable, other independent variables included in the analysis are also included: SMEs, GDP per capita, Quality of regulations, Rule of law, Government effectiveness, Renewable energy consumption, Domestic credit, Foreign direct investment, presented in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e. The independent variables were chosen due to their representativeness.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOut of a desire to identify the importance of green innovative entrepreneurship as a sustainable business model, we chose patents for environmental technologies as the dependent variable, with which we measure all environmental interventions. We chose this variable because it covers a wide range of innovations aimed at protecting the environment and ensuring the sustainability of the population. The Patents on environment technologies indicator includes information on technologies for renewable energy, energy efficiency, waste management, and pollution reduction.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab3\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 3\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDescription of variables included in the analysis.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"6\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVariable name\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVariable symbol\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDescription\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eUnit of\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003emeasure\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eData source\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePrevious\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eresults\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePatents on environment technologies\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePET\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe relationship between environmental interventions and domestic inventions in various technologies.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e% of all\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003etechnologies\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eOECD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNumber SMEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSMEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNumber of small and medium-sized enterprises in total firms\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEurostat\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e+\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGDP per capita\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGDP_\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003egrowth\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAnnual GDP growth rate\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe World Bank\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e+\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRegulatory Quality\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRQ\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGovernment capacity to promote private sector development\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe World Bank\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRule of Law\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRL\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePerceptions of the extent to which agents trust and follow society's rules\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe World Bank\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e+/-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGovernment Effectiveness\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGE\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe quality of public services\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe World Bank\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e+/-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRenewable energy consumption\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eREC\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eShare of renewable energy in total final energy consumption\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e% total energy consumption\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe World Bank\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e+\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDomestic credit\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDom_cred\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDomestic credit granted to the private sector by banks\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e% of GDP\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe World Bank\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e+/-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eForeign direct investment\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFDI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eForeign direct investment, net inflows\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e% of GDP\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe World Bank\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e+/-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"6\"\u003eSource: own processing based on literature review\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEnvironmental technology patents are currently a rapidly expanding field, with a particular emphasis on sustainability technologies. Oyebanji et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e) analyzed the importance of environmental technology patents, demonstrating that they increase environmental sustainability in Spain. Also, Spain's economic growth contributes to environmental degradation.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe number of small and medium-sized enterprises is an indicator that identifies the percentage of SMEs in the total number of existing firms in each country (including newly established firms). We chose the number of small and medium-sized enterprises to establish the dynamics of SMEs within sustainability related policy environments. Studies demonstrate that there is an interrelationship between green entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises (Melay et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGDP per capita growth is a macroeconomic indicator that identifies the annual percentage rate of growth of GDP per capita. It can be used to identify the economic growth rate of each country. The literature (Kwilinski et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e) shows the existence of a positive link between green entrepreneurship and the economic activity of the country.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe quality of governance in different countries can be determined using the Global Governance Index (GGI), a composite indicator developed by the World Bank. This index is made up of six dimensions: participation and accountability, political stability and lack of violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption. Given these factors, we chose to determine the impact of public policies on entrepreneurship through the indicators of government effectiveness, regulatory quality and rule of law. Through these three indicators, we also want to demonstrate the impact of the legislative variable on the development of green innovative entrepreneurship. Thus, Regulatory Quality refers to the government's capacity to propose sound regulations to promote private sector development. The rule of law indicator presents perceptions of trust and compliance with the rules of society. The government effectiveness indicator refers to opinions on the quality of public services, the impact of political pressures. Chandel (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e); Lobonţ et al. (2021) has demonstrated the negative impact of public policies on the development of green entrepreneurship. Also, given the fact that public policies influence the entrepreneurial environment, we chose the regulator quality indicator as a proxy to identify the quality of public policies. Thus, Vasilescu et al. (2023) consider the legislative framework adopted by the government to be a significant factor for the growth of green entrepreneurship.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe share of renewable energy in total final energy consumption reflects the extent to which energy from renewable sources (such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric power) contributes to overall energy use. There is a strong link between renewable energy and sustainable development (Dincer, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2000\u003c/span\u003e), which also demonstrates the existence of a link between entrepreneurship and renewable energy.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDomestic credit granted to the domestic sector by banks refers to the total financial resources provided to the private sector by other institutions in the form of bank loans, trade loans, etc. We also chose the domestic credit indicator as a proxy to identify the financing of green entrepreneurship. Since the analysis is carried out at the level of the 27 European Union member states that have the largest proportion of a debt-type economy, we expect there to be a positive relationship between green entrepreneurship and bank financing. A series of authors (Roman et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Nizaeva and Coskun, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR31\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Vasilescu et al., 2023) presents both a positive and a negative relationship between bank lending and the business environment.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eForeign direct investment represents investments made by foreign investors, firms or governments from other countries. Firms with foreign capital can influence both positively and negatively the number of firms in the economy (Roman et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Vasilescu et al., 2023).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn order to achieve the main objective of our research, we established the folloing working hypotheses:\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003col\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe legislative framework influences green innovative entrepreneurship.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/li\u003e \u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cp\u003eBank loans influence green innovative entrepreneurship.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/li\u003e \u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe level of economic development influences sustainability.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/li\u003e \u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe dynamics of SMEs influence green innovative entrepreneurship.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/li\u003e \u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cp\u003eThere is a positive and statistically significant relationship between renewable energy consumption and green innovative entrepreneurship.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/li\u003e \u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cp\u003eForeign direct investment influences green innovative entrepreneurship.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/li\u003e \u003c/span\u003e \u003c/ol\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.5. Results and Discussions of the Quantitative Analysis\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e we present the descriptive statistics of the variables included in the analysis. The calculations were performed using the econometric program EViews. The largest standard deviation is recorded by the foreign direct investment variable (59.86), which demonstrates that the economic and political instability in recent years influences both the measures adopted regarding environmental protection, as well as the entrepreneurial environment. Thus, we observe a reduction in foreign direct investment, as a result of the uncertainty existing at a global level. The most stable indicator, at a macroeconomic level, is represented by the GDP per capita indicator, which demonstrates that in the last 15 years there have been no significant variations in economic growth generated by green innovative entrepreneurship. Also, the variable number of SMEs records stable values, as a result of the importance of this sector in the economy and the environment.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAlso, the minimum negative value is also recorded by the FDI variable, which demonstrates that in the European Union countries, during the period 2008\u0026ndash;2022, a considerable reduction in foreign direct investment was recorded. Certainly, the global economic crises, the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the political crises, along with the armed ones, generated these changes in the economy.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab4\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 4\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDescriptive statistics of the analyzed variables.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"9\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c9\" colnum=\"9\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVariable\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMin.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMax.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMean\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMedian\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStandard deviation\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSkewness\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eKurtosis\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNumber of\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eobservations\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePatents on\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eenvironment technologies\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.842697\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e45.20548\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.01596\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12.61902\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.728091\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.258740\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.017972\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e370\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNumber SMEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e99.11170\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e99.95133\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e99.78813\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e99.82279\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.114021\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.789794\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.135089\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e370\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGDP per capita\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-14.46550\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.44369\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.469668\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.564420\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.149354\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.078900\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.792094\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e370\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRegulatory Quality\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e60.0000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e100.0000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e83.73712\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e83.84789\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.10925\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.203312\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.0008\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e370\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRule of Law\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e49.04762\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e100.0000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e81.33959\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e83.13584\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.74903\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.484365\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.1791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e370\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGovernment Effectiveness\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e41.42857\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e100.0000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e80.87096\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e81.71067\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.13032\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.701343\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.14544\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e370\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRenewable energy consumption\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.20000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e57.9000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19.99000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.60000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.95493\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.870384\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.1196\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e370\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDomestic credit\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e24.55877\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e254.5517\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e86.81641\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e82.67300\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e43.67048\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.314332\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.1204\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e370\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFDI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-296.0132\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e452.2210\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.39045\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.999341\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e59.86791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.076993\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e29.0040\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e370\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSource: own calculations obtained using the econometric software EViews\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn figure no. 5 we have presented the evolution of the analyzed variables, values that confirm the results of the descriptive statistics. Thus, we observe that the foreign direct investment variable records the largest fluctuations, the largest decrease being recorded in Luxembourg, in 2020 and in Cyprus in 2008, as a result of the global economic crisis and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism. Also, significant variations were recorded by the variable domestic credit granted to the private sector by banks, which recorded major increases in 2020 in the Czech Republic and Denmark and in 2008 in Cyprus. Thus, we observe the need to access optimal sources of financing for small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the hotel and food sector. According to reports published by the OECD (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e), Denmark represents the pillar of green entrepreneurship, but despite this it faces a lack of access to financing and therefore in 2020 there was an overwhelming increase in bank loans contracted by businesses operating in this country.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSource: own processing using the econometric software EViews\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTable\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e presents the results of the correlation analysis and we can see that green entrepreneurship is closely linked to financing and the legislative framework.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab5\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 5\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCorrelation matrix.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"10\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c9\" colnum=\"9\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c10\" colnum=\"10\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePET\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSMEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGDP_\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGrowth\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRQ\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRL\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGE\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eREC\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDom_\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ecredit\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFDI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePET\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSMEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.187601\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGDP_\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGrowth\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.041956\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.000726\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRQ\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.165240\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.357212\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.079506\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRL\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.076432\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.271855\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.127010\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.884661\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGE\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.053093\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.223265\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.135393\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.855095\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.938171\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eREC\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.150708\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.054271\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.034736\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.113411\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.172560\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.158226\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDom_\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ecredit\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.139009\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.086274\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.325217\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.345486\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.433466\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.459068\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.012667\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFDI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.150925\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.026971\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.101350\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.026862\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.041791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.042649\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.227669\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.224477\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSource: own calculations made using the econometric software EViews\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eTable\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e presents the results of the regression analysis through which we want to identify the extent to which green entrepreneurship represents a sustainable business model and what are the opportunities and challenges involved. Thus, according to the data presented, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, Government Effectiveness and FDI are statistically significant. Based on these results, we can conclude that the quality of regulations, government effectiveness and foreign direct investment are the main factors influencing green innovative entrepreneurship at the level of European Union member countries.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe results of our research demonstrate that there is no statistically significant relationship between green innovative entrepreneurship and the number of SMEs. The results are not in line with expectations, so that small and medium-sized enterprises have a positive influence on green entrepreneurship but not statistically significant. These results demonstrate that the SME sector needs to adopt additional measures in order to implement sustainable development strategies.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur results demonstrate that there is no significant relationship between per capita economic growth rate and green entrepreneurship, the latter positively contributes to a sustainable business environment. The results are not in line with expectations because we included in the analysis the period of influence of the global economic crisis, the pandemic crisis, as well as that generated by armed conflicts.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Regulatory Quality variable is statistically significant, at a confidence level of 90%, which demonstrates the existence of a link with green entrepreneurship. The impact is positive, which demonstrates that at the level of the 27 member states of the European Union, the quality of regulations is optimal and sufficient for the development of a sustainable business environment. The closer the value of this indicator is to 0, the lower the level of regulations, and the closer the value is to 100%, the more beneficial regulations are demonstrated for the business environment. Thus, the state that recorded the highest value (100%) is Denmark, a value recorded in 2009, and Greece recorded the lowest value at the European Union level in 2016 (60%). The results correspond to expectations because, as previously mentioned, Denmark records a high quality of regulations, placing particular emphasis on public policies and on the implementation of a solid business environment, paying increased attention to the promotion of innovation and digitalization. The situation in Greece has improved in recent years, indicating an average performance compared to other countries.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Rule of Law indicator registers negative values ​​and is statistically significant. Therefore, there is a significant link between this indicator and green entrepreneurship, having a negative impact on it. Thus, trust and compliance with the rules are a key element for the business environment, but as a result of political instability and permanent legislative changes, the impact is negative.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Governance Effectiveness Indicator records negative but statistically significant values, which demonstrates that there is a close relationship between governance effectiveness and a sustainable entrepreneurial environment, at a confidence level of 90%. Thus, at the European Union level, governance influences the existence of a sustainable entrepreneurial environment, the result being in line with the expected one (Lobonț et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Renewable energy consumption variable has a negative impact on the sustainable business environment and is not statistically significant. The results demonstrate that firms in the European Union member states, in the period 2008\u0026ndash;2022, do not use renewable energy sources in overwhelming proportions.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Domestic Credit indicator is not statistically significant. Thus, green innovative entrepreneurship does not benefit from sufficient loans to obtain the optimal financing necessary for the proper functioning of this sector.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eForeign direct investments are statistically significant but have a negative impact on environmental sustainability, because, as a result of the restrictions imposed in the last two decades, but also as a result of the events that affected the economies of the European Union member states, there has been a significant decrease, which has reduced the number of measures adopted regarding environmental protection.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab6\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 6\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRegression results.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"6\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVariable\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCoefficient\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStd. Error\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003et-Statistic\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eProb\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eC\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-399.5896\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e388.2612\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.029177\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.3041\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSMEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.259524\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.896624\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.093132\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.2751\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGDP_growth\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.003899\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.057883\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.067362\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.9463\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRegulatory Quality\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.161423*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.084190\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.917375\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.0560\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRule of Law\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.162138*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.091919\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.763918\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.0787\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGovernment\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEffectiveness\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.142914*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.078815\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.813277\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.0707\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRenewable energy consumption\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.096544\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.065343\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.477489\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.1405\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDomestic credit\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.009645\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.012657\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.762037\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.4466\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eForeign direct investment\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.007859*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.004378\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.795190\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.0735\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eR-squared\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.381577\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMean dependent var\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.01596\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAdjusted R-squared\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.318812\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eS.D. dependent var\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.728091\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eS.E. of regression\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.902289\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAkaike info criterion\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.650821\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSum squared resid\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5101.334\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSchwarz criterion\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.021017\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLog likelihood\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1010.402\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eHannan-Quinn criter.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.797866\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eF-statistic\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.079423\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDurbin-Watson stat\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.836477\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eProb (F-statistic)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.000000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSource: own calculations using the econometric software EViews\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e*, ** and *** indicate that the coefficients are statistically significant at the 90, 95% and 99% levels\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAccording to the R-squared value, we find that 38.15% of the variation in environmental protection and sustainability promotion measures is influenced by the variation in the independent variables. In conclusion, the variables analyzed in this paper have a moderate impact on sustainability. Thus, our first hypothesis (1: the legislative framework influences green entrepreneurship) is valid. The regulatory quality variable is statistically significant, which demonstrates the existence of a link between public policies and green entrepreneurship. In other words, the existence of legislative regulations can lead to an increase in green strategies adopted by the entrepreneurial environment.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eHypothesis 2\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003eBank loans influence green entrepreneurship is not valid. Thus, companies that adopt green strategies do not benefit from optimal access to financing. In order to benefit from optimal access to financing, governments have proposed financing programs. For example, at the level of Romania, through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, it was proposed to provide funds to small and medium-sized enterprises that implement solutions to reduce the impact on the environment. Also, innovations aimed at protecting the environment and promoting sustainability must benefit from adequate financing. However, there is no significant link between the two concepts, financing being insufficient.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eHypothesis 3\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe level of economic development influences sustainability, which was not confirmed by our study, the level of economic development not influencing environmental protection and sustainable innovative entrepreneurship.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eHypothesis 4\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe dynamics of SMEs influence green innovative entrepreneurship, has not been confirmed. Thus, there is no significant relationship between the number of enterprises and green entrepreneurship, which demonstrates the importance of the measures adopted and not the number of firms.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eHypothesis 5\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003eThere is a positive and statistically significant relationship between renewable energy consumption and green innovative entrepreneurship is not valid. Thus, renewable energy consumption does not influence green entrepreneurship, as renewable energy also produces a series of difficulties for the business environment, including from the perspective of initial costs and unsuitable climate.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eHypothesis 6\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003eForeign direct investment influences green innovative entrepreneurship, which is valid because it contributes to the challenge and development of this concept.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn conclusion, the evidence suggests that the main factors influencing the sustainability of the business environment are Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, Government Effectiveness and FDI. Thus, public policies and interventions, together with good governance, influence the sustainable environment. The results of our work demonstrate the need for an optimal legislative framework, including the existence of state-funded programs through which the entrepreneurial environment benefits from optimal access to financing. Thus, green entrepreneurship can be financed both through traditional financing methods (bank loans) and by providing special-purpose subsidies from governments.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe European Union promotes green entrepreneurship through programs integrated into the European Green Deal, to which are added other types of programs: the Local and Regional Initiatives, the Life Program. Considering these aspects, the European Union initiatives are joined by the European Central Bank, which proposes a series of activities for climate financing: the use of renewable energy, energy efficiency, efficient transport, green buildings, etc.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"4. Conclusions","content":"\u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eOur research demonstrates that Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, Government Effectiveness and FDI have a significant impact on green innovative entrepreneurship. Currently, several sectors within green entrepreneurship are enjoying notable success. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have developed innovative solutions in areas such as renewable energy, organic agriculture and waste management.These efforts contribute not only to environmental protection, but also to job creation and economic growth. A key lesson for SMEs is that innovation plays a central role in green entrepreneurship. Without the integration of new technologies, environmental and economic performance cannot be improved. Our research results also highlight the importance of digitalizing the business environment, optimal support from governments to promote the green economy, with the regulatory framework playing a vital role. Legislation significantly affects both the feasibility and financing of green businesses. Companies need to be informed about legal requirements and take advantage of government support programs. Our paper highlighted the current problems faced by the business environment in adopting the principles of supporting green entrepreneurship. We also identified insufficient analysis of this concept in the literature review. Several obstacles encountered by entrepreneurs in promoting green entrepreneurship were identified, including: retaining employees, developing new products and services, generating business partnerships, expanding into other markets, accessing new sources of financing. Based on the results, we demonstrated the importance of governments in adopting solutions to support and promote green entrepreneurship, without additional costs. Bank loans and government-subsidized programs remain crucial sources of funding. Firms need well structured business plans to access these resources effectively. Our results have shown that government decisions are closely linked to business performance and economic growth, so it is of vital importance to increase entrepreneurial education, especially in order to promote female entrepreneurship. Green entrepreneurship represents a sustainable business model, but which generates both opportunities and challenges for the business environment.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBased on the results obtained, we conclude that the legislative framework plays a crucial role in promoting green innovative entrepreneurship. With well-structured regulations and facilitated access to appropriate financing, green entrepreneurship is expected to continue developing in the coming years.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Abbreviations","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe following abbreviations are used in this manuscript:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"524\" class=\"fr-table-selection-hover\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 62px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eGDP \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 461px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eGross Domestic Product\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 62px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSMEs\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 461px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSmall and medium-sized enterprise\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 62px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eOECD\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 461px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 62px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eGNI\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 461px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eGross National Income\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 62px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eUSA\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 461px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eUnited States of America\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 62px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eOLS\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 461px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eOrdinary Least Squares\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 62px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eRQ\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 461px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eRegulatory Quality\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 62px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eRL\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 461px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eRule of Law\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 62px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eGE\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 461px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eGovernment Effectiveness\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 62px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eREC\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 461px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eRenewable energy consumption\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 62px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eFDI\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 461px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eForeign direct investment\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003ch2\u003eInstitutional Review Board Statement:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot applicable.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eInformed Consent Statement: \u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot applicable.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eConflicts of Interest:\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe authors declare no conflicts of interest.\u003c/p\u003e \u003ch2\u003eFunding:\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis research received no external funding.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAuthor Contribution\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003econceptualization, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D.; methodology, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D.; literature review, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D., software, M.O., F.O., E.M.D.; validation, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D.; analysis, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D.; interpretations, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D.; resources, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D.; data curation, M.O., F.O., E.M.D.; writing\u0026mdash;original draft preparation, M.O., F.O., E.M.D.; visualization, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D.; supervision, M.O., F.O. and E.M.D. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eData Availability\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe data supporting the current article are available upon request.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAlwakid, W., Alwakid, W., Aparicio, S. 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Green entrepreneurship and SME performance: the moderating effect of firm age. \u003cem\u003eInternational Entrepreneurship and Management Journal\u003c/em\u003e, 18, 255\u0026ndash;275, \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-021-00757-3\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1007/s11365-021-00757-3\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"green entrepreneurship, sustainable development, circular economy, small and medium-sized enterprises, business model, integrative analysis","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8480258/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8480258/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eAt the global level, green entrepreneurship has increasingly been positioned as a key innovative mechanism for advancing energy efficiency, promoting resource reuse through circular economy principles, and fostering the development of clean technologies. Our study contributes to the knowledge field by examining the extent to which green entrepreneurship functions as a sustainable business model, while also identifying the key opportunities, challenges, and different constraints.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe main purpose of our analysis is to emphasize the role of the legislative framework in promoting green entrepreneurship and its significance for the economy. The research employs both qualitative and quantitative methods, combining bibliometric and empirical analyses in a complementary manner. The data used in this research are panel data, collected from Eurostat, OECD and the World Bank, and the sample consists of the 27 member states of the European Union, over the period 2008–2022.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA particularly underexplored area we address is the role of green financing, which supports ecological entrepreneurship but also imposes specific compliance requirements that can be both beneficial and demanding for businesses. We further highlight how governmental decisions influence the entrepreneurial landscape and sustainable development efforts, helping to clarify the relationship between green entrepreneurship and economic growth. The topic remains insufficiently addressed in existing research, with a limited number of studies dedicated to this intersection of entrepreneurship, sustainability, and environmental policy. Our findings offer relevant insights for both the business environment and policymaking, emphasizing the strategic importance of green entrepreneurship in achieving resilient economic transformation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn particular, our research highlights that Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, Government Effectiveness and FDI availability are essential factors contributing to the development of eco-innovative entrepreneurship, providing key lessons for policymakers and the business community.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJEL Classification\u003c/strong\u003e: G41; L26; Q01.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Green Entrepreneurship as a Sustainable Business Model: Key Lessons for SMEs","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-01-06 09:49:07","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8480258/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"7c73f383-e035-4c23-b886-32109df171eb","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 6th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-28T13:00:30+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-8480258","link":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-026-00843-4","journal":{"identity":"future-business-journal","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Future Business Journal"},"publishedOn":"2026-04-21 15:58:47","publishedOnDateReadable":"April 21st, 2026"},"versionCreatedAt":"2026-01-06 09:49:07","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1186/s43093-026-00843-4","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-026-00843-4","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8480258","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8480258","identity":"rs-8480258","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}