The empirical analysis of the determinants for environmental technological change: A research agenda

Abstract Technological change is usually considered a necessary albeit not sufficient condition for a transition to sustainability. However, the empirical analysis of the determinants to environmental technological change has not received too much attention in the environmental/ecological economics literature and many open questions remain in this context. Based on a careful review of the literature, this paper argues that further analysis should address several issues at different levels: i.e., regarding the conceptual framework, the thematic scope of the studies, some methodological issues and other aspects related to the environmental policy variable. First, an integrated conceptual framework which takes into account the interplay between relevant variables influencing environmental technological change (i.e., factors internal and external to the firm and characteristics of the environmental technologies) and all the stages of this process, with a greater emphasis on the invention stage, should be developed. Other aspects should then be tackled, including a focus on several themes (i.e., a greater attention to cross-sectoral technologies, the barriers to different types of environmental technologies, the international dimension of environmental technological change and environmental technological change in small and medium size enterprises), methodological issues (combination of case studies and econometric modelling) and several issues related to the environmental policy variable.

[1]  Frans Berkhout,et al.  Technological Regimes, Environmental Performance and Innovation Systems: Tracing the Links , 2005 .

[2]  Nick Johnstone,et al.  Environmental policy, management and R&D , 2007 .

[3]  K. Pavitt Sectoral Patterns of Technical Change : Towards a Taxonomy and a Theory : Research Policy , 1984 .

[4]  Nicholas A. Ashford,et al.  Understanding Technological Responses of Industrial Firms to Environmental Problems: Implications for Government Policy (chapter) , 1993 .

[5]  C. Carraro,et al.  Firms, Governments and Climate Policy , 2003 .

[6]  B. Laplante,et al.  Determinants of environmental performance in the Canadian pulp and paper industry: An assessment from inside the industry , 2005 .

[7]  Paul Stoneman,et al.  Handbook of the economics of innovation and technological change , 1995 .

[8]  Jens Horbach,et al.  Indicator Systems for Sustainable Innovation , 2005 .

[9]  V. Bush Science, the Endless Frontier , 1999, Science, the Endless Frontier.

[10]  R. S. D. Motta Analyzing the environmental performance of the Brazilian industrial sector , 2004 .

[11]  Adam B. Jaffe,et al.  Dynamic Incentives of Environmental Regulations: The Effects of Alternative Policy Instruments on Te , 1995 .

[12]  Kornelis Blok,et al.  Stimulating R&D of industrial energy-efficient technology. Policy lessons: impulse technology , 2004 .

[13]  Smita B. Brunnermeier,et al.  Determinants of environmental innovation in US manufacturing industries , 2003 .

[14]  Giorgio Sirilli,et al.  The patent system and the exploitation of inventions: results of a statistical survey conducted in Italy , 1990 .

[15]  David Popp,et al.  International Innovation and Diffusion of Air Pollution Control Technologies: The Effects of Nox and So2 Regulation in the Us, Japan, and Germany , 2004 .

[16]  M. Frondel,et al.  End-of-Pipe or Cleaner Production? An Empirical Comparison of Environmental Innovation Decisions Across OECD Countries , 2007 .

[17]  A. Jaffe,et al.  A tale of two market failures: Technology and environmental policy , 2005 .

[18]  R. Gross,et al.  UK innovation systems for new and renewable energy technologies: drivers, barriers and systems failures , 2005 .

[19]  B. Godin The Linear Model of Innovation , 2006 .

[20]  Theo de Bruijn,et al.  Conditions for the success of negotiated agreements: Partnerships for environmental improvement in the Netherlands , 2005 .

[21]  Kenichi Shimamoto,et al.  Industrial Characteristics, Environmental Regulations and Air Pollution: An Analysis of the UK Manufacturing Sector , 2005 .

[22]  Yongsung Park A Study on the Determinants of Environmental Innovation in Korean Energy Intensive Industry , 2004 .

[23]  Marcus Wagner,et al.  Empirical influence of environmental management on innovation: Evidence from Europe , 2008 .

[24]  Sandra Meredith,et al.  Environmental Innovations in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises , 2002, Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manag..

[25]  Nicholas A. Ashford,et al.  Government and Environmental Innovation in Europe and North America , 2002 .

[26]  John P. Weyant,et al.  On the sources of technological change: Assessing the evidence , 2006 .

[27]  D. Stern The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve , 2004 .

[28]  L. Ross,et al.  Environmental policy in China , 1988 .

[29]  Damian Dupuy,et al.  Technological Change and Environmental Policy: The Diffusion of Environmental Technology , 1997 .

[30]  Till Requate,et al.  Dynamic incentives by environmental policy instruments—a survey , 2005 .

[31]  Yukiko Fukasaku,et al.  The Need for Environmental Innovation Indicators and Data from a Policy Perspective , 2005 .

[32]  Masaru Yarime,et al.  From end-of-pipe technology to clean technology : effects of environmental regulation on technological change in the chlor-alkali industry in Japan and Western Europe , 2003 .

[33]  Ronald J. Shadbegian,et al.  Environmental Regulation, Investment Timing, and Technology Choice , 1997 .

[34]  M. Heitor,et al.  Are environmental concerns drivers of innovation? Interpreting Portuguese innovation data to foster environmental foresight , 2006 .

[35]  A. Blackman,et al.  Community Pressure and Clean Technology in the Informal Sector: An Econometric Analysis of the Adoption of Propane by Traditional Mexican Brickmakers , 1998 .

[36]  Bob van der Zwaan,et al.  Gross world product and consumption in a global warming model with endogenous technological change , 2003 .

[37]  T. Panayotou Empirical tests and policy analysis of environmental degradation at different stages of economic development , 1993 .

[38]  P. González Analysing the factors influencing clean technology adoption: a study of the Spanish pulp and paper industry , 2005 .

[39]  Carlos Montalvo Corral,et al.  Sustainable production and consumption systems—cooperation for change: assessing and simulating the willingness of the firm to adopt/develop cleaner technologies. The case of the In-Bond industry in northern Mexico , 2003 .

[40]  Tobias N. Rasmussen CO2 abatement policy with learning-by-doing in renewable energy , 2001 .

[41]  Vicki Norberg-Bohm,et al.  Stimulating ‘green’ technological innovation: An analysis of alternative policy mechanisms , 1999 .

[42]  Adam B. Jaffe,et al.  Environmental Regulation and Innovation: A Panel Data Study , 1996, Review of Economics and Statistics.

[43]  J. K. Jacques,et al.  Problems of adoption and adaptation of energy-conserving innovations in UK beverage and dairy industries , 1987 .

[44]  International Society for Ecological Economics Internet Encyclopaedia of Ecological Economics Environmental taxation and the double dividend , 2003 .

[45]  Marco Frey,et al.  Adoption of Environmental Innovations , 1999 .

[46]  Matthias Weber,et al.  Towards Environmental Innovation Systems , 2005 .

[47]  Z. Griliches Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: a Survey , 1990 .

[48]  P Ekins,et al.  Environmental policy and technical change: a comparison of the technological impact of policy instruments. , 1999 .

[49]  E. Rogers Diffusion of Innovations , 1962 .

[50]  Elisabetta Strazzera,et al.  Modeling Elicitation effects in contingent valuation studies: a Monte Carlo Analysis of the bivariate approach , 2005 .

[51]  Martin Jänicke,et al.  Environmental Policy and Innovation: an International Comparison of Policy Frameworks and Innovation Effects , 2000 .

[52]  K. Rennings Redefining innovation -- eco-innovation research and the contribution from ecological economics , 2000 .

[53]  Mitsutsugu Hamamoto,et al.  Environmental regulation and the productivity of Japanese manufacturing industries , 2006 .

[54]  K. Jacob,et al.  Ecological modernisation and the creation of lead markets , 2005 .

[55]  R. Welford Corporate environmental management: systems and strategies. , 2014 .

[56]  R. Kemp,et al.  Environmental policy and technical change : a comparison of the technological impact of policy instruments , 1995 .

[57]  Andreas R. Ziegler,et al.  Integrated Product Policy and Environmental Product Innovations: An Empirical Analysis , 2007 .

[58]  A. Jaffe,et al.  Environmental Policy and Technological Change , 2002 .

[59]  Melanie Monßen Environmental Innovations in the Chemical Industry - Case Studies in a Historical Perspective , 2005 .

[60]  Paula Kivimaa,et al.  The challenge of greening technologies—Environmental policy integration in Finnish technology policies , 2006 .

[61]  R. Newell,et al.  Information programs for technology adoption: The case of energy-efficiency audits , 2004 .

[62]  J. Hemmelskamp,et al.  Environmental Taxes and Standards: An Empirical Analysis of the Impact on Innovation , 2000 .

[63]  Ashoka Mody,et al.  Innovation and the international diffusion of environmentally responsive technology , 1996 .

[64]  S. Rayner,et al.  Human choice and climate change , 1998 .

[65]  Nicholas A. Ashford,et al.  Using Regulation to Change the Market for Innovation , 1985 .

[66]  Gregory C. Unruh Understanding carbon lock-in , 2000 .

[67]  Ulrich Steger,et al.  MANAGERIAL ISSUES IN CLOSING THE LOOP , 1996 .

[68]  Policies for cleaner technology , 1999 .

[69]  S. Parto,et al.  Industrial innovation and environmental regulation : developing workable solutions , 2007 .

[70]  John P. Ulhøi,et al.  Industry and the environment: a case study of cleaner technologies in selected European countries , 1997 .

[71]  Thomas Roediger-Schluga The Porter hypothesis and the economic consequences of environmental regulation : a Neo-Schumpeterian approach , 2004 .

[72]  Michael E. Porter,et al.  Green and Competitive : Ending the Stalemate , 1996 .

[73]  A. Michaelowa The German Wind Energy Lobby How to Successfully Promote Costly Technological Change , 2004 .

[74]  Neil Gunningham,et al.  Explaining Corporate Environmental Performance: How Does Regulation Matter? , 2003 .

[75]  Arik Levinson,et al.  Examining the Evidence on Environmental Regulations and Industry Location , 2004 .

[76]  William A. Pizer,et al.  Instrument Choice for Environmental Protection When Technological Innovation is Endogenous , 2003 .

[77]  G. Noci,et al.  Managing "green" product innovation in small firms , 1999 .

[78]  Sandra Rothenberg,et al.  Determinants of environmental innovation adoption in the printing industry: the importance of task environment , 2003 .

[79]  Robert N. Stavins,et al.  The Effects of Environmental Regulation on Technology Diffusion: The Case of Chlorine Manufacturing , 2003 .

[80]  B. Kriström,et al.  On a clear day you might see an environmental Kuznets curve , 2007 .

[81]  Roberto A. Lopez Progress in sustainable development research , 2008 .

[82]  Esther Elisabeth Maria Luiten,et al.  Beyond energy efficiency : actors, networks and government intervention in the development of industrial process technologies , 2001 .

[83]  Dilek Çetindamar,et al.  The role of regulations in the diffusion of environment technologies: micro and macro issues , 2001 .

[84]  Sonia Yeh,et al.  Technology Innovations and Experience Curves for Nitrogen Oxides Control Technologies , 2005, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.

[85]  F. Plassmann,et al.  Preferences, Technology, and the Environment: Understanding the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis , 2006 .

[86]  M. Albert,et al.  Adoption of green chemistry: an analysis based on US patents , 2004 .

[87]  D. Third OECD/Eurostat . Oslo Manual-Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Technological Innovation Paris, France: , 2005 .

[88]  Timothy F. Malloy,et al.  Innovation, Regulation and the Selection Environment , 2004 .

[89]  Klaus Rennings,et al.  Innovation-Oriented Environmental Regulation , 2000 .

[90]  F. Englmann,et al.  Public Policy, Voluntary Initiatives and Water Benign Process Innovations: Empirical Evidence from the West German Chemical Industry during the Mid-1990s , 2005 .

[91]  S. Bukowicka,et al.  International Society for Ecological Economics [ISEE] , 1992 .

[92]  Klaus Rennings,et al.  Innovation-oriented environmental regulation : theoretical approaches and empirical analysis , 2000 .

[93]  Klaus Rennings,et al.  Determinants of Environmental Product and Process Innovation — Evidence from the Mannheim Innovation Panel and a Follow-Up Telephone Survey , 2000 .

[94]  Henk Folmer,et al.  Principles of Environmental and Resource Economics , 2000 .

[95]  D. Wheeler Racing to the Bottom? Foreign Investment and Air Pollution in Developing Countries , 1999 .

[96]  Edward S. Rubin,et al.  Regulation as the Mother of Innovation: The Case of So2 Control , 2005 .

[97]  Margaret R. Taylor,et al.  Control of SO2 emissions from power plants: A case of induced technological innovation in the U.S. , 2005 .

[98]  Ulrik Jørgensen Cleaner Technology in Denmark - support measures and regulatory efforts , 2005 .

[99]  Massimiliano Mazzanti,et al.  Examining the Factors Influencing Environmental Innovations , 2006 .

[100]  Lata Gangadharan,et al.  Environmental compliance by firms in the manufacturing sector in Mexico , 2006 .

[101]  John P. Weyant,et al.  On the sources of technological change: What do the models assume , 2008 .

[102]  Ann E. Harrison,et al.  Moving to Greener Pastures? Multinationals and the Pollution Haven Hypothesis , 1997 .

[103]  A. Reinstaller Policy entrepreneurship in the co-evolution of institutions, preferences, and technology: Comparing the diffusion of totally chlorine free pulp bleaching technologies in the US and Sweden , 2005 .

[104]  Nick Johnstone,et al.  The Innovation Effects of Environmental Policy Instruments , 2005 .

[105]  K. Green,et al.  Technological trajectories and R&D for environmental innovation in UK firms☆ , 1994 .

[106]  George Deltas,et al.  Adoption of Pollution Prevention Techniques: The Role of Management Systems, Demand-Side Factors and Complementary Assets , 2007 .

[107]  K. Rennings,et al.  Lead markets and regulation: a framework for analyzing the international diffusion of environmental innovations , 2005 .

[108]  M. Greenstone Estimating Regulation-Induced Substitution: The Effect of the Clean Air Act on Water and Ground Pollution , 2003 .

[109]  Suzi Kerr,et al.  Policy-Induced Technology Adoption: Evidence from the U.S. Lead Phasedown , 2001 .

[110]  Allen Blackman,et al.  Adoption of Clean Leather-Tanning Technologies in Mexico , 2005 .

[111]  A. Gouldson,et al.  Environmental Policy and Industrial Innovation: Integrating Environment and Economy Through Ecological Modernisation , 2000, The Ecological Modernisation Reader.

[112]  Pablo del Río González,et al.  Public policy and clean technology promotion. The synergy between environmental economics and evolutionary economics of technological change , 2004 .

[113]  Valérie Reppelin-Hill Trade and Environment: An Empirical Analysis of the Technology Effect in the Steel Industry , 1999 .

[114]  Andreas R. Ziegler,et al.  The influence of different characteristics of the EU environmental management and auditing scheme on technical environmental innovations and economic performance , 2006 .

[115]  Klaus Jacob,et al.  Lead Markets for Environmental Innovations: A New Role for the Nation State , 2004, Global Environmental Politics.

[116]  J. Schot,et al.  Environmental Strategies for Industry: International Perspectives on Research Needs and Policy Implications , 1993 .

[117]  P. Sanyal The effect of deregulation on environmental research by electric utilities , 2007 .

[118]  Vicki Norberg-Bohm,et al.  Technology Commercialization and Environmental Regulation: Lessons from the U.S. Energy Sector , 2000 .

[119]  Joseph E. Aldy,et al.  The role of technology in sustaining agriculture and the environment 1 The views of this paper do no , 1998 .

[120]  Jens Horbach,et al.  Methodological Aspects of an Indicator System for Sustainable Innovation , 2005 .

[121]  Paula Kivimaa,et al.  The determinants of environmental innovation: the impacts of environmental policies on the Nordic pulp, paper and packaging industries , 2007 .

[122]  D. Burtraw Innovation Under the Tradable Sulfur Dioxide Emission Permits Program in the U.S. Electricity Sector , 2000 .

[123]  M. Mazzanti,et al.  Economic instruments and induced innovation: The European policies on end-of-life vehicles , 2006 .

[124]  R. Nelson National Innovation Systems: A Comparative Analysis , 1993 .

[125]  Robin Williams,et al.  Policies for Cleaner Technology: A New Agenda for Government and Industry , 1999 .

[126]  Cees Withagen,et al.  Innovation and Environmental Stringency: The Case of Sulfur Dioxide Abatement , 2005 .

[127]  M. S. Taylor,et al.  Trade, Growth and the Environment , 2003 .

[128]  David Pearce,et al.  The political economy of an energy tax: The United Kingdom's Climate Change Levy , 2006 .

[129]  V. Norberg-Bohm Creating Incentives for Environmentally Enhancing Technological Change: Lessons From 30 Years of U.S. Energy Technology Policy , 2000 .

[130]  Katharina Türpitz The Determinants and Effects of Environmental Product Innovations , 2004 .

[131]  M. S. Taylor,et al.  Unmasking the Pollution Haven Effect , 2004 .

[132]  Vanessa Oltra,et al.  Trajectories towards clean technology: example of volatile organic compound emission reductions , 2004 .