Does technological innovation bring better air quality?

Abstract

This paper analyses the interrelation between technological innovation (TI) and air quality (AQ) using the bootstrap rolling-window subsample Granger test for China. We find that TI has a twofold impact on AQ. On the one hand, TI brings better AQ. This result proves the technique effect, indicating that TI can improve AQ by directly reducing air pollutants emissions and facilitating clean energy use. On the other hand, TI can make AQ worse when TI mainly focuses on utilising fossil fuels to expand production, which proves the scale effect. In turn, AQ can also influence TI; the direction of the influence is dependent on the severity of air pollution and the government’s response. This study provides important policy implications for coordinating innovation and environmental conservation to achieve sustainable development.