Eco‐innovations of corporations are seen to contribute to the mitigation of negative impacts on the natural environment. However, despite environmental gains, some eco‐innovations fail in the marketplace while others succeed. We propose a framework that reflects the connection between eco‐innovations and their social license to operate. Corporations can increase the market success of eco‐innovations if they can gain a social license to operate based on fair and trustworthy stakeholder engagement shaped by the context of their societal environment. Eco‐innovations can be transformed following management steps of an internal and external evaluation, the analysis of companies' interactional status, and conformation activities for the introduction of sustainability‐oriented innovations. We conclude that the successful transformation of eco‐innovations requires the inclusion of social factors, such as stakeholders' multiple claims, to secure a social license to operate and thereby even reduce costs by avoiding sketchy corporate social responsibility measures. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment