The purpose of this article is to analyse to growing interest, in the field of the environment, for new cooperative approcahes that make use of negotiated instruments such as voluntary agreements. Using an interpretation framework that puts the emphasis on collective learning and monitoring devices, we highlight the value of this type of approach in situations of great uncertainty where a coordinated process of innovation is required to achieve ambitious environmental targets. The implementation of this theoretical approach in the end-of-life vehicles (ELV) case, which has been the subject of several voluntary agreements in Europe, offers a fuller understanding of the characteristics and driving forces of the collective innovation process in action, as well as the obstacles that have still to be overcome. In particular, we explain why monitoring of innovation by the authorities, focusing on coordination mechanisms, is a crucial issue on which further research should be carried out.