Abstract
Abstract Green growth and sustainable development goals (SDGs) are two strategies to improve the productivity and competitiveness of countries with respect to environmental protection. In these strategies, science, technology and innovation (STI) plays an important role in generating new knowledge. Colombia is a highly diversified country that is currently seeking to promote green growth initiatives and the SDGs through five axes: policy, new economic opportunities from the sustainable use of natural resources, the efficient use of natural capital and energy in production, business and human competences and capacities in STI. In this context, this study seeks to analyse the main contributions and adequate measures that determine the relationships between green growth, SDGs and STI in Colombia over recent years using different econometric models. The results of this study suggest the importance of STI in promoting green growth and achieving SDGs. In other words, higher investments in STI promote lower pollution and higher productivity, competitiveness and development, and new knowledge and technologies are found to be important to increasing the sustainable use of natural resources in productive processes. These results suggest policy implications with regard to energy use and conservation, resource efficiency, and the reduction of pollution. It is important to formulate and frequently measure the indicators of STI related to green growth and SDGs from a baseline, as this will allow us to analyse improvements in competitiveness and productivity from a sustainable development perspective.
Highlights
Worldwide, there is a general consensus that growth has been achieved at the expense of natural resources and the environment
Note that DRit is the deforestation rate in period t for department I, DRit−1 is the lagged coefficient of the deforestation rate, R&Dit is the investments in research and development by department, EDUit is the investments in science and technology education by department, MGit is the investments related to science and technology management by department, PATit is the patent applications by department, PhDit is the number of PhD programmes related to green growth by department, and PPit is the number of papers published in environmental science in period t by the department
Note that DRit is the deforestation rate in period t for department i, DRit−1 is the lagged coefficient of the deforestation rate, R&Dit is the investment in research and development by department, EDUit is the investments in science and technology education by department, MGit is the investments related to science and technology management by department, ELEit is the electricity consumption by department, NGit is the natural gas consumption by department, ENEit is total energy consumption in period t by department, COit is the total emissions of carbon dioxide by department, CCit is the changes in surfaces covered by natural forces, RAit is the regenerated area by department, and SFit is the stable forest area by department
Summary
There is a general consensus that growth has been achieved at the expense of natural resources and the environment. The subsequent environmental degradation affects human activities, especially the population living in poverty, through extreme and violent weather, floods and climate change Different interest groups, such as policymakers, development experts, decision-makers and international organizations (the World Bank, the Interamerican Development Bank, etc.), have developed effective strategies for ending poverty, generating economic growth, making demand inclusive and sustainable and achieving fundamental universal access to energy, responsible and conscientious resource use. Innovation processes and scientific knowledge are fundamental to achieving the appropriate use of natural assets and resources [2]–[4]
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