This paper seeks to contribute to the green building debate in economics and management by focusing on environmental innovation and innovation leadership. The latter is the dynamic capability of an innovative firm to seize new innovation opportunities as a result of a proactive investment policy and enhanced innovativeness. The paper defends the thesis according to which firms that are consistently "innovation leaders" are those that encourage environmental innovations. We use French CIS Surveys and employ a Heckman selection estimation method using a sample of 1180 firms to study which different forms of innovation leadership increase the propensity to develop environmental innovations. We find a strong impact of innovation leadership that is measured in a novel way, using innovation persistence. Furthermore, the results show a strong impact of regulations and costs savings as determinants of eco-innovation. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.