Abstract
This paper aims to investigate the impact of low-carbon innovation on CO2 emissions. Using patent statistics, we measured low-carbon innovations for 15 major economies during the period of 1992–2012. Then, we classified low-carbon technology into clean and gray technology according to the patent classification system. Following the empirical Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework, we explored the effects of low-carbon innovation and its components on CO2 emissions. We did not find any evidence of significant influence of low-carbon innovation. Through further estimations, a significantly negative effect of clean innovation was found while the effect of gray innovation is not clear. Heterogeneous impacts within low-carbon technology provide an explanation for the insignificant impact of low-carbon innovation.
Highlights
Technology may help solve our climate change issues
Is low-carbon innovation necessarily related to CO2 reduction? Secondly, low-carbon technology consists of many subclasses including energy efficiency technology and electric vehicle technology etc., but how effective is each subclass of low-carbon technology in achieving CO2 reduction goals? Investigating the effects of low-carbon innovation and its components on CO2 emission is helpful for policy-making regarding our low-carbon future
By using a dataset that covers 15 major economies from 1992 to 2012, the empirical results based on an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework showed that the low-carbon innovation (LCI) is not a significantly influential factor of CO2 emissions
Summary
Technology may help solve our climate change issues. Low-carbon technology innovation, or a broader concept of technology innovation for climate change mitigation, attracts increasing attention from both entrepreneurs and policymakers [1]. From the perspective of global leaders, the existing low-carbon technology system is unsatisfactory in terms of its capability of climate change mitigation. In the context of ecological or energy economics, existing studies typically took it for granted that environmental innovations (EI) had a significantly negative effect on CO2 emissions [2]. Low-carbon technology consists of many subclasses including energy efficiency technology and electric vehicle technology etc., but how effective is each subclass of low-carbon technology in achieving CO2 reduction goals? Investigating the effects of low-carbon innovation and its components on CO2 emission is helpful for policy-making regarding our low-carbon future Is low-carbon innovation necessarily related to CO2 reduction? Secondly, low-carbon technology consists of many subclasses including energy efficiency technology and electric vehicle technology etc., but how effective is each subclass of low-carbon technology in achieving CO2 reduction goals? Investigating the effects of low-carbon innovation and its components on CO2 emission is helpful for policy-making regarding our low-carbon future
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