  Many studies have analyzed empirically the determinants of survival for
innovative startup companies using data about the characteristics of
entrepreneurs and management or focusing on firm- and industry-specific
variables. However, no attempts have been made so far to assess the role of the
environmental sustainability of the production process. Based on data
describing the characteristics of the Italian innovative startups in the period
2009-2018, this article studies the differences in survival between green and
non-green companies. We show that, while controlling for other confounding
factors, startups characterized by a green production process tend to survive
longer than their counterparts. In particular, we estimate that a green
innovative startup is more than twice as likely to survive than a non-green
one. This evidence may support the idea that environment sustainability can
help economic development.
