Diffusion Of Green Technologies Research Articles

Determinants of Green Technology Diffusion and Green Trade

Purpose - This study aims to explore the factors that contribute to the international diffusion of green technology and further analyze the relationship between green technology diffusion and green trade. Previous studies and theoretical foundations suggest that economic, technological, and institutional environments are important factors influencing the diffusion of green technology among countries. For this study, trade openness, intellectual property protection, the level of development of information and communication technology (ICT), research and development (R&D) investment, environmental regulations, and environmental norms were used as the key factors in the diffusion of green technology. In addition, a comparative analysis of OECD and non-OECD countries is conducted.
 Design/methodology - Panel data were collected from 58 countries for the period 2007-2019. The empirical analysis consists of two parts, first exploring the drivers of green technology diffusion using the feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) method, and then analyzing the linkage between green technology diffusion and green trade using the two-stage least squares (2SLS) model. The demand for green technology is expected to vary among countries because of their different economic development levels and goals. A comparative analysis was conducted based on the classification of countries by the level of economic development.
 Findings - We found that the level of intellectual property protection, R&D investment and environmental norms contribute positively to the diffusion of green technology. However, there is a negative correlation between trade openness, environmental regulations and green technology diffusion. Green technology diffusion positively affects green trade. Moreover, the positive impact of green technology diffusion on green trade is more pronounced in non-OECD countries than in OECD countries.
 Originality/value - Previous studies have focused on technology transfer and green technology innovation at the firm level; however, research on green technology diffusion is insufficient. This study investigated the determinants of green technology diffusion at the national level. The study also explored the relationship between green technology diffusion and green trade. It helps to fill the gap in the literature on green technology diffusion and provides a reference for future studies. Additionally, our findings offer valuable guidance for government and corporate decision-makers in formulating strategies for the transfer of green technologies and sustainable development initiatives.

The diffusion of green technology, governance and CO2 emissions in Sub-Saharan Africa

PurposeA promising solution to meet the challenge of sustainability and ensure the protection of the environment consists in acting considerably on the adoption and use of new information and communication technologies. The latter can act on the protection of the environment; completely change manufacturing processes into energy-efficient, eco-friendly techniques or influence institutions and governance. The article attempts to cover shortcomings in the literature by providing a couple of theoretical frameworks and grounded empirical proofs for the dissemination of green technologies and the interaction of the latter with institutional quality.Design/methodology/approachThe sample is made up of 43 African countries covering the period 2000–2020 and a panel VAR modeling approach is employed.FindingsOur results show that an attenuation of CO2 emissions amplifies the diffusion of digital technologies (mobile telephones and Internet). Efficiency in the institutional quality of African countries is mandatory for environmental preservation. Moreover, the provision of a favorable institutional framework in favor of renewable energy helps to stimulate environmental performance in African states.Originality/valueThis study complements the extant literature by assessing nexuses between green technology and CO2 emissions in environmental sustainability.

The impact of China's information infrastructure construction policy on green total factor productivity: moving towards a green world.

China's economic growth over the past two decades has led to severe environmental pollution in most of its cities. To address this issue, China has developed and implemented several strategies to increase its resource utilization efficiency and move towards a green production economy, such as the information infrastructure construction policy (IICP). To assess the extent to which green production is being achieved, this study first measured the green total factor productivity (GTFP) in Chinese prefecture-level cities using a combined super slacks-based measure and the global Malmquist-Luenberger index (SBM-GML) model. Then, to assess the effectiveness of the IICP, the paths affecting the GTFP were explored using a time-varying difference-in-difference (time-varying DID) model. It was found that the IICP had significantly contributed to urban GTFP through its green technology diffusion effects and improved employment structures, with its implementation resulting in an average increase of 0.201 in the pilot cities compared to the non-pilot cities. This research attempted to explain how IICP plays a role in improving green production, and policy makers should attach importance to the power of IICP.

Unraveling the Green Growth Matrix: Exploring the Impact of Green Technology, Climate Change Adaptation, and Macroeconomic Factors on Sustainable Development

The primary objective of this paper is to investigate the extent to which climate change adaptation and green technology diffusion serve as key drivers for green growth. Additionally, the study examines the influence of various economic, environmental, and social factors on green growth. Utilizing an annual panel dataset comprising 38 OECD member countries from 1990 to 2020, a series of dynamic panel data models are estimated using the system generalized method of moments (GMM) approach. The empirical results provide novel and robust evidence that the diffusion of green technology and climate change adaptation exert a significant positive influence on green growth. Furthermore, the findings highlight the significant role played by macroeconomic, institutional, social, and government policy-related factors in promoting green growth. These insights have substantial policy implications for the development and implementation of strategies that encourage climate change adaptation and green innovation. As a result, policymakers should prioritize the integration of green technology and climate change adaptation measures in their sustainable development agendas to foster a greener, more resilient future.

Diffusion of Green Technology, Governance and CO2 Emissions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Diffusion of Green Technology, Governance and CO2 Emissions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Environmental Regulation and Green Technology Diffusion: A Case Study of Yangtze River Delta, China

As an important driver of green technology innovation, the impact of environmental regulation on the diffusion of green technology remains controversial. Taking China’s Yangtze River Delta (YRD) urban agglomeration, as an example, and using green patents transfer to measure green technology diffusion, this paper analyzes the effect of environmental regulation on green technology diffusion by revealing the temporal and spatial characteristics of green technology diffusion in the YRD. The results show that: (1) Green technology transfer activities in the YRD mainly take place in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, and other cities. (2) Green building technology is the most demanded technology in the green technology transfer market in the YRD. (3) The direction of green technology diffusion in the YRD has changed significantly over time. In the early stage, green technologies mainly flowed to developed cities such as Shanghai, Suzhou, and Nanjing. However, in the later stage, green technologies mainly flowed from developed cities such as Shanghai, Suzhou, and Nanjing to cities with lower economic development levels (mostly located in Anhui Province). (4) The consistency of environmental regulation among cities plays an important role in promoting green technology transfer within the YRD, which is precisely what the YRD ecological green integrated development strategy emphasizes, breaking the administrative barriers between cities in the YRD and accelerating the flow of green technology between cities.

Geography and the speed of green technology diffusion

ABSTRACT A fast adoption and diffusion of green technologies will be essential for a successful transition of the world’s economies towards more sustainable modes of production and consumption. This article investigates the speed of green technology diffusion in China using a unique data set, which lists geocoded patent licence agreements for green technologies from 2000–2019. We focus on the relation between spatial determinants, including geographic proximity and regional technological specialisation, and the time-to-adoption, thus analysing the factors explaining the time between technology development (patent application) and technology adoption (licencing). The main finding is that geographic proximity to the innovator is associated with an accelerated time-to-adoption. Moreover, we find that the more a region specialises in green technologies, the faster a patent is licenced within that region.

On the Determinants of Green Technology Diffusion: An Empirical Analysis of Economic, Social, Political, and Environmental Factors

The purpose of this study is to investigate the importance of economic, social, political, and environmental factors in determining green technology diffusion. We use a unique annual panel dataset covering 58 nations from 1990 to 2019. Based on dynamic panel data models estimated using system generalized method of moments (GMM), we test whether the technological achievement of nations, general technology diffusion trends, environmental performance, democratic accountability, income distribution, foreign direct investment, income level, and socioeconomic conditions are significant determinants. Our findings indicate that green technology diffusion has a significant relationship with all of these factors. We obtain new evidence that general or brown technological innovation, diffusion, and achievement trends in a country are significant drivers of environmental technology diffusion. The findings of our paper have significant implications for sustainable development, given the importance of green products and technologies. The results of the study suggest that policies aimed at promoting the diffusion of green technologies may not be successful in the presence of unfavorable economic, social, political, or environmental conditions.

‘License to green’: Regional patent licensing networks and green technology diffusion in China

Based on the concept of regional lead markets for environmental innovation, this paper fits exponential random graph models on a regionalized patent licensing network to explore how green technologies diffuse in space. The empirical analysis relies on a novel database of license agreements for Chinese patents, which are used to measure spatial innovation diffusion, as they indicate locations for both innovation development and adoption. Findings suggest, among other factors, that geographic proximity matters, that regions exhibit both network activity and popularity effects particularly in highly populated regions, that network effects such as mutual linking and triadic closure help to explain diffusion processes, and that local technology supply and demand are closely interconnected. In that regard, the role of environmental regulations is identified as being complex. The findings help to understand the formation of regional lead markets for environmental innovation, opening opportunities to accelerate innovation diffusion and a transition towards sustainability.

Do investors care about carbon emissions under the European Environmental Policy?

AbstractWe explore the extent to which cross‐sectional differences in carbon dioxide emissions matter for future valuations of European firms regulated under the European Union Trading Scheme (EU ETS). Counterintuitively, we find that firm‐level emissions share a robust concave relationship with future market valuations. Initially, market valuations increase in emissions potentially because emissions are considered essential for normal production processes; however, the valuation premium decreases and becomes negative beyond a threshold of emissions due to looming regulatory and transition risks. Firms in the lower quartile of emissions trade at an average premium of 2.42%, against a 20.78% discount in the upper quartile (the peak is 3.85%). Importantly, the concave relationship obtains only in smaller firms with lower analyst coverage and lower institutional ownership, and the predictive power of emissions is limited to firms with no reported investments in clean technology. Therefore, policymakers might consider promoting the development and diffusion of green technologies.

Diffusion of biogas for freight transport in Sweden: A user perspective

Current freight transport is highly dependent on fossil fuels and there is a need for a transition to alternative fuels and technologies. Biogas is a type of biofuel that has the potential to reduce climate emissions from freight transport, while providing additional benefits such as recycling of nutrients and increased energy security. This paper uses theories on the diffusion of green technologies to analyse the barriers and drivers for the increased use and diffusion of biogas in freight transport. The empirical focus is on the region of Västra Götaland in Sweden, and qualitative interviews have been conducted with demand-side actors such as transport buyers, haulage companies and vehicle manufacturers. The results confirm the important barriers observed in previous research, such as the higher costs of biogas, financial uncertainties and lack of infrastructure, as well as the interplay between barriers. The main drivers are an increased focus on sustainability both within the sector and from wider society, as well as the environmental properties of biogas. Specific barriers have also been identified such as a fragmented freight market structure with a mix of large and small transport companies, tight profit margins and reduced capacity for investments. There is also a division of labour and responsibilities between transport companies and transport buyers, which makes it unclear who will drive the transition to alternative fuels. In general, the study shows that the different types of uncertainty are perceived by the actors as being a significant barrier that needs to be better conceptualised in diffusion theory.

Inequality, democracy and green technological change

This work analyses the factors influencing the development of new eco-friendly innovations. We focused our attention in particular on the role played by income distribution and government institutions, two elements which impact is generally neglected by the existing academic literature. Thanks to a long cross-sectional panel at country level, results show that inequality reduction, economic growth and democratization played a key role in supporting green technological change, and that their effect is complementary. In light of these findings, redistribution policies combined with democratization became vital for the diffusion of green technologies.

토픽모델링 기법을 활용한 녹색성장 정책 변화 분석

In 2008, the Korean president proposed a ‘low carbon, green growth’ sustainable development strategy aimed at preserving the environment and economic growth. It was established as a comprehensive national vision that included energy, environmental issues, jobs, and the greening of the land.BR This study sought to systematically analyze the Five-Year Plan for Green Growth, which is being implemented in Korea as part of the National Green Growth Strategy, and to extract main topics and keywords related to the green growth strategy over time. This study presented the main topics and keywords of the first to third Five-Year Plan of Green Growth by conducting topic modeling analysis and centrality analysis using NetMiner ver. 4.4.3.d as an analytical tool.BR Centrality analysis revealed that the first plan had high centrality among keywords associated with green Official Development Assistance (ODA) and education. The second plan placed importance on keywords related to the development and diffusion of green technology. In the third plan, keywords extracted with high centrality were related to low-carbon energy transition.BR In topic modeling analysis, the main topics of the first plan were Green transportation, Renewable energy promotion, Low carbon product certification, Mitigation and evaluation, and Human resources development. The second plan mainly included Green technology development, Low carbon product certification, Energy demand management, Climate extremes response, and Green ODA. The main topics identified for the third plan were Green transportation, Adaptation, Green ODA, Particulate matter reduction, and Energy transition. “Green traffic” was also commonly mentioned in the first and third plans. However, “bicycle”, one of the major keywords in the first plan, was replaced by “hydrogen and electric vehicles” in the third plan. This suggested that current issues were well reflected in each plan.BR This study identified the main topics for each planning period, as well as differences and commonalities.BR This study established how the importance of topics related to mitigation and adaptation have changed by analyzing the Five-Year Plan for Green Growth.

State Policy of Environmental Convergence in Economy Transition to Sustainable Development

Structural shifts caused by the expansion of "green" convergent technologies significantly enhance the ecological convergence of the economies in the countries in which they determine the exit to the trajectory of sustainable development. At the same time, in an economy where the commercialization and diffusion of green technologies is constrained by structural problems, the prerequisites for environmental divergence are formed, which can finally consolidate technological lag and a long-term trend of environmental degradation. The transition from environmental divergence to convergence should be carried out in a system of convergentoriented structural policy. It presents a three-level complex: targeted changes in the reproductive structure, the proportion of production factors (the first level); impact on the sectoral, technological, market-competitive, social structures of the economy (the second level), development of research, production and financial infrastructure for the commercialization and transfer of "green" technologies (the third level).

Overcoming Barriers to Agriculture Green Technology Diffusion through Stakeholders in China: A Social Network Analysis.

It is crucial to actively encourage the development of agriculture green technology, which has been regarded as one of the most effective solutions to the environmental degradation caused by agricultural activities. However, agriculture green technology diffusion is indeed a challenging task and still faces numerous barriers. The stakeholders who can potentially deal with these barriers, however, have been overlooked by previous studies. To address these issues, social network analysis was performed to identify critical stakeholders and barriers. Their interactions in agriculture green technology diffusion were analyzed based on the literature, a questionnaire survey and expert judgments. A two-mode network and two one-mode networks were used to analyze the relationships among the identified 12 barriers and 14 stakeholders who can influence these 12 barriers identified. The results show that agricultural research institutes, universities, agribusiness, agencies of township promotion, the government and farmers’ relatives are key stakeholders and that the limited market demand for green technology and the high cost of its diffusion are two main barriers. However, poor green technology operability and farmer families in distress are factors that are not as important as previously perceived. Finally, some recommendations and suggestions are provided to promote agriculture green technology diffusion in China.

A Three-Player Game Model for Promoting the Diffusion of Green Technology in Manufacturing Enterprises from the Perspective of Supply and Demand

Taking the rational use of environmental regulations to promote the diffusion of green technology innovation in China’s manufacturing enterprises as the starting point, this study analyzed the benefits to the government, innovation-supplying enterprises, and potential demand-oriented enterprises. In addition, a tripartite evolutionary model was constructed to examine the impact of command-and-control environmental regulation and market-driven environmental regulation on the diffusion of green technology innovation in manufacturing enterprises. Finally, the study compared and analyzed the heterogeneous effects of different types of environmental regulation tools on the diffusion of green technology innovation in manufacturing enterprises using local stability analysis and numerical simulation. The results are as follows: (i) When the government does not implement environmental regulation tools or the regulation intensity is relatively small, the diffusion depth of green technology innovation in manufacturing enterprises is zero. (ii) When government regulation reaches a certain level, the system of manufacturing enterprises, innovation-supplying enterprises, and potential demand-oriented enterprises will choose to actively promote the diffusion of green technology innovation following a long evolution process. (iii) Increasing the punishment intensity and subsidy rate of green technology innovation can stimulate the diffusion of green technology innovation in manufacturing enterprises. (iv) The comprehensive use of the two kinds of environmental regulation tools has a heterogeneous influence on the strategic choice of green technology innovation diffusion subjects of manufacturing enterprises, and its incentive effect on potential demand-oriented enterprises is relatively poor.

Do we need disasters to adopt more environmental policies?

BackgroundIn this paper, we try to shed light on the question whether natural disasters, such as nuclear accidents, have an impact on policy makers’ activity in passing new green energy policies. Disruptive moments like exogenous shocks reinforce society’s disapproval against polluting technologies and should open a window of opportunities to eventually initiate a change toward green energy.MethodsBased on the data of 34 OECD countries, we disentangle the effect of disruptive exogenous shocks on countries’ policy activity. Starting with OLS regressions, we run several robustness checks by using a pre-sample mean approach, an ARDL technique called dynamic heterogeneous panel models (DHPM), which allows for the distinction between long- and short-run effects.ResultsThe results corroborate the hypothesis that unexpected, disruptive events have a positive impact on the actual number of renewable energy policies. The fade-out time for shocks is about 7 years, leaving a positive long-term effect.ConclusionExogenous events such as nuclear disasters act as “focusing event” and seem to offer policy makers a window of opportunities to initiate conducive policy measures toward a cleaner economy. Furthermore, a country’s capacity in green technologies is key to a pervasive diffusion of green technologies.

Analyzing the co-evolution of green technology diffusion and consumers’ pro-environmental attitudes: An agent-based model

Massive diffusion of green technologies is significant for building a cleaner world. However, the process of technology diffusion is usually slow and complex. An in-depth understanding of the mechanism regarding green technology diffusion is an essential precondition for effectively stimulating this process. Green technology diffusion heavily involves both social and technological changes. Although existing studies have provided rich knowledge about identifying critical drivers and barriers affecting green technology diffusion, research that considers consumers’ pro-environmental attitudes and green technology diffusion as an evolving system is still sparse. Aiming at exploring the co-evolution of consumers’ pro-environmental attitudes and green technology diffusion, this paper builds an agent-based model that integrates the relative agreement model with technology diffusion theories to conduct a sequence of controlled numerical experiments, which progressively unveil how attitudinal and technological factors impact green technology diffusion. The main findings include that (1) improving consumers’ pro-environmental attitudes is prominently beneficial to green technology diffusion and maturation; (2) technology maturity has very limited impact on consumers’ first-time purchases but significantly affects consumers’ satisfaction, which would further impact consumers’ repeat purchases; (3) consumers that do not support green technologies frequently emerge during the evolution of attitudes (despite the high technology maturity), which corresponds to the emergence of the anti-environmental groups observed in the real world; (4) active interactions between non-adopters enable their attitudes to converge, which results in the polarization of consumers’ attitudes.

The role of frugal innovation in the global diffusion of green technologies

The paper suggests that the debate on sustainable development and sustainable innovation could profit from the concept of frugal innovation, because both concepts acknowledge the limitations of a resource-constrained world. The complex relationship between frugal innovation and sustainable innovation is explored in conceptual terms and results in criteria which denote potential overlaps between both concepts. Furthermore, the paper analyses world trade data of green technologies to demonstrate the increasing relevance of south-south and north-south trade and to derive implications for frugal innovation. Moreover, case studies of frugal and sustainable innovations are analysed in order to highlight their requirements and implications. Maybe the most important conclusion stemming from the considerations in this article is that the integration of frugal and sustainable innovation principles can breathe new life into the discussion about sustainable innovation and sustainable development in general.

The role of frugal innovation in the global diffusion of green technologies

The paper suggests that the debate on sustainable development and sustainable innovation could profit from the concept of frugal innovation, because both concepts acknowledge the limitations of a resource-constrained world. The complex relationship between frugal innovation and sustainable innovation is explored in conceptual terms and results in criteria which denote potential overlaps between both concepts. Furthermore, the paper analyses world trade data of green technologies to demonstrate the increasing relevance of south-south and north-south trade and to derive implications for frugal innovation. Moreover, case studies of frugal and sustainable innovations are analysed in order to highlight their requirements and implications. Maybe the most important conclusion stemming from the considerations in this article is that the integration of frugal and sustainable innovation principles can breathe new life into the discussion about sustainable innovation and sustainable development in general.