IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jrpoli/v76y2022ics0301420722000538.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do research and development and environmental knowledge spillovers facilitate meeting sustainable development goals for resource efficiency?

Author

Listed:
  • Aldieri, Luigi
  • Makkonen, Teemu
  • Vinci, Concetto Paolo

Abstract

We investigate whether research and development (R&D) and environmental knowledge spillovers aid economies in meeting the targets of the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns (SDG12). We do so by utilizing panel data from the European Union, Japan, and USA over the period of 2002–2017 and a production function approach. The results show that whereas R&D, in general, works against meeting the targets set in SDG12, environmental knowledge spillovers facilitate achieving the goal. Additionally, and as expected, the results support the positive effect of control of corruption and resource scarcity but a negative impact of environmental policy stringency for SDG12. The latter result might be due to environmental policies facilitating end-of-the-pipe solutions rather than supporting decreased resource and material use and waste generation. The findings indicate that instead of just supporting all (green and dirty) R&D, policymakers should devise measures that specifically facilitate environmental innovation (not just “any innovation”) and knowledge spillovers stemming from such green technologies, to support sustainable development via innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Aldieri, Luigi & Makkonen, Teemu & Vinci, Concetto Paolo, 2022. "Do research and development and environmental knowledge spillovers facilitate meeting sustainable development goals for resource efficiency?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:76:y:2022:i:c:s0301420722000538
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2022.102603
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420722000538
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resourpol.2022.102603?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arif Eser Guzel & Unal Arslan & Ali Acaravci, 2021. "The impact of economic, social, and political globalization and democracy on life expectancy in low-income countries: are sustainable development goals contradictory?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(9), pages 13508-13525, September.
    2. Vanessa Oltra & Rene Kemp & Frans P. De Vries, 2010. "Patents as a measure for eco-innovation," International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 13(2), pages 130-148.
    3. Rubashkina, Yana & Galeotti, Marzio & Verdolini, Elena, 2015. "Environmental regulation and competitiveness: Empirical evidence on the Porter Hypothesis from European manufacturing sectors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 288-300.
    4. Miguelez, Ernest & Noumedem Temgoua, Claudia, 2020. "Inventor migration and knowledge flows: A two-way communication channel?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(9).
    5. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    6. Cainelli, Giulio & D’Amato, Alessio & Mazzanti, Massimiliano, 2020. "Resource efficient eco-innovations for a circular economy: Evidence from EU firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    7. Nick Johnstone & Ivan Haščič & David Popp, 2010. "Renewable Energy Policies and Technological Innovation: Evidence Based on Patent Counts," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 45(1), pages 133-155, January.
    8. Hausman, Jerry, 2015. "Specification tests in econometrics," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 38(2), pages 112-134.
    9. Kassouri, Yacouba & Alola, Andrew Adewale & Savaş, Savaş, 2021. "The dynamics of material consumption in phases of the economic cycle for selected emerging countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    10. Gyamfi, Bright Akwasi & Bein, Murad A. & Udemba, Edmund Ntom & Bekun, Festus Victor, 2021. "Investigating the pollution haven hypothesis in oil and non-oil sub-Saharan Africa countries: Evidence from quantile regression technique," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    11. Pier Luigi Marchini & Tatiana Mazza & Alice Medioli, 2020. "Corruption and sustainable development: The impact on income shifting in European international groups," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 717-730, March.
    12. Wang, Rong & Tan, Junlan & Yao, Shuangliang, 2021. "Are natural resources a blessing or a curse for economic development? The importance of energy innovations," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    13. Torregrosa-Hetland, Sara & Pelkonen, Antti & Oksanen, Juha & Kander, Astrid, 2019. "The prevalence of publicly stimulated innovations –A comparison of Finland and Sweden, 1970–2013," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(6), pages 1373-1384.
    14. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Mairesse, Jacques, 1995. "Exploring the relationship between R&D and productivity in French manufacturing firms," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 263-293, January.
    15. Luigi Aldieri, 2011. "Technological and geographical proximity effects on knowledge spillovers: evidence from the US patent citations," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(6), pages 597-607, January.
    16. Wang, Yun & Sun, Xiaohua & Guo, Xu, 2019. "Environmental regulation and green productivity growth: Empirical evidence on the Porter Hypothesis from OECD industrial sectors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 611-619.
    17. Teemu Makkonen & Robert P. Have, 2013. "Benchmarking regional innovative performance: composite measures and direct innovation counts," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 94(1), pages 247-262, January.
    18. Giovanni Marin & Francesca Lotti, 2017. "Productivity effects of eco-innovations using data on eco-patents," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 26(1), pages 125-148.
    19. Aldieri, Luigi & Sena, Vania & Vinci, Concetto Paolo, 2018. "Domestic R&D spillovers and absorptive capacity: Some evidence for US, Europe and Japan," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 38-49.
    20. Su, Hsin-Ning & Moaniba, Igam M., 2017. "Does innovation respond to climate change? Empirical evidence from patents and greenhouse gas emissions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 49-62.
    21. Manuel Frondel & Jens Horbach & Klaus Rennings, 2007. "End‐of‐pipe or cleaner production? An empirical comparison of environmental innovation decisions across OECD countries," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(8), pages 571-584, December.
    22. Tobias Wendler, 2019. "About the Relationship Between Green Technology and Material Usage," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 74(3), pages 1383-1423, November.
    23. Zoltan J. Acs & Luc Anselin & Attila Varga, 2008. "Patents and Innovation Counts as Measures of Regional Production of New Knowledge," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 11, pages 135-151, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    24. López-Cazar, Ibeth & Papyrakis, Elissaios & Pellegrini, Lorenzo, 2021. "The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and corruption in Latin America: Evidence from Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    25. Brunnermeier, Smita B. & Cohen, Mark A., 2003. "Determinants of environmental innovation in US manufacturing industries," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 278-293, March.
    26. Luigi Aldieri & Maxim Kotsemir & Concetto Paolo Vinci, 2020. "The role of environmental innovation through the technological proximity in the implementation of the sustainable development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 493-502, February.
    27. Lorenza Campagnolo & Carlo Carraro & Fabio Eboli & Luca Farnia & Ramiro Parrado & Roberta Pierfederici, 2018. "The Ex-Ante Evaluation of Achieving Sustainable Development Goals," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 73-116, February.
    28. Jaffe, Adam B, 1986. "Technological Opportunity and Spillovers of R&D: Evidence from Firms' Patents, Profits, and Market Value," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 984-1001, December.
    29. Moncada-Paternò-Castello, Pietro & Ciupagea, Constantin & Smith, Keith & Tübke, Alexander & Tubbs, Mike, 2010. "Does Europe perform too little corporate R&D? A comparison of EU and non-EU corporate R&D performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 523-536, May.
    30. Sohag, Kazi & Taşkın, F. Dilvin & Malik, Muhammad Nasir, 2019. "Green economic growth, cleaner energy and militarization: Evidence from Turkey," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    31. Rodríguez, Alicia & Hernández, Virginia & Nieto, María Jesús, 2022. "International and domestic external knowledge in the innovation performance of firms from transition economies: The role of institutions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    32. Melek Yurdakul & Halim Kazan, 2020. "Effects of Eco-Innovation on Economic and Environmental Performance: Evidence from Turkey’s Manufacturing Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-22, April.
    33. Cristina I. Fernandes & Pedro Mota Veiga & João J.M. Ferreira & Mathew Hughes, 2021. "Green growth versus economic growth: Do sustainable technology transfer and innovations lead to an imperfect choice?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 2021-2037, May.
    34. Fritsch, Michael & Franke, Grit, 2004. "Innovation, regional knowledge spillovers and R&D cooperation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 245-255, March.
    35. Pata, Ugur Korkut & Aydin, Mucahit & Haouas, Ilham, 2021. "Are natural resources abundance and human development a solution for environmental pressure? Evidence from top ten countries with the largest ecological footprint," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    36. Aldieri, Luigi & Makkonen, Teemu & Paolo Vinci, Concetto, 2020. "Environmental knowledge spillovers and productivity: A patent analysis for large international firms in the energy, water and land resources fields," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    37. Cheng, Zhonghua & Li, Lianshui & Liu, Jun, 2020. "Natural resource abundance, resource industry dependence and economic green growth in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    38. Spyros Arvanitis & Florian Seliger & Martin Woerter, 2020. "Knowledge Spillovers, Competition and Innovation Success," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(5), pages 1017-1041, October.
    39. Karakaya, Etem & Sarı, Erkam & Alataş, Sedat, 2021. "What drives material use in the EU? Evidence from club convergence and decomposition analysis on domestic material consumption and material footprint," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    40. MahdaviMazdeh, Hossein & Saunders, Chad & Hawkins, Richard William & Dewald, Jim, 2021. "Reconsidering the dynamics of innovation in the natural resource industries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    41. Stéphane Maraut & Hélène Dernis & Colin Webb & Vincenzo Spiezia & Dominique Guellec, 2008. "The OECD REGPAT Database: A Presentation," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2008/2, OECD Publishing.
    42. Michael E. Porter & Claas van der Linde, 1995. "Toward a New Conception of the Environment-Competitiveness Relationship," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 97-118, Fall.
    43. Vernon Henderson, J., 2007. "Understanding knowledge spillovers," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 497-508, July.
    44. Razzaq, Asif & Ajaz, Tahseen & Li, Jing Claire & Irfan, Muhammad & Suksatan, Wanich, 2021. "Investigating the asymmetric linkages between infrastructure development, green innovation, and consumption-based material footprint: Novel empirical estimations from highly resource-consuming economi," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    45. Luigi Aldieri & Concetto Paolo Vinci, 2016. "Technological Spillovers Through A Patent Citation Analysis," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(02), pages 1-23, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xu, Chunguang & Li, Xiaohui, 2023. "Achieving common prosperity and green development through utilizing natural resources," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    2. Chen, Xi & Mao, Jin & Ma, Yaxue & Li, Gang, 2024. "The knowledge linkage between science and technology influences corporate technological innovation: Evidence from scientific publications and patents," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    3. Gianluca Biggi & Andrea Mina & Federico Tamagni, 2023. "There are different shades of green: heterogeneous environmental innovations and their effects on firm performance," Papers 2310.08353, arXiv.org.
    4. Zhang, Wenting & Wang, Zibang & Adebayo, Tomiwa Sunday & Altuntaş, Mehmet, 2022. "Asymmetric linkages between renewable energy consumption, financial integration, and ecological sustainability: Moderating role of technology innovation and urbanization," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 1233-1243.
    5. Aldieri, Luigi & Bruno, Bruna & Makkonen, Teemu & Vinci, Concetto Paolo, 2023. "Environmental innovations, geographically mediated knowledge spillovers, economic and environmental performance," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    6. Hu, Nan & Zheng, Bing, 2023. "Natural resources, education, and green economic development," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    7. Xiaoli Shi & Ying Chen & Qianju Cheng, 2022. "Environmental Regulation, Environmental Knowledge Spillover, and Regional Economic Growth in China: An Empirical Test Based on the Spatial Durbin Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-23, November.
    8. Guoteng Xu & Shuai Peng & Chengjiang Li & Xia Chen, 2023. "Synergistic Evolution of China’s Green Economy and Digital Economy Based on LSTM-GM and Grey Absolute Correlation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-29, September.
    9. Liu, Wen & Xu, Jiaqi & She, Shengxiang, 2023. "Green economic development by increasing efficiency of natural resource consumption," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    10. Isiksal, Aliya Zhakanova & Assi, Ala Fathi, 2022. "Determinants of sustainable energy demand in the European economic area: Evidence from the PMG-ARDL model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    11. Wang, Bo & Yang, Haoting & Bi, Chunyu & Feng, Yanchao, 2023. "Green infrastructure and natural resource utilization for green development in selected belt and road initiative countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    12. Muhammad Ishfaq Khan & Syed Afzal Moshadi Shah & Mudassar Ali & Abdullah Faisal Al Naim, 2024. "To Sustainably Ride or Not to Ride: Examining the Green Consumption Intention of Ride-Hailing Services in the Sharing Economy by University Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-18, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aldieri, Luigi & Makkonen, Teemu & Paolo Vinci, Concetto, 2020. "Environmental knowledge spillovers and productivity: A patent analysis for large international firms in the energy, water and land resources fields," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    2. Xiaoli Shi & Ying Chen & Qianju Cheng, 2022. "Environmental Regulation, Environmental Knowledge Spillover, and Regional Economic Growth in China: An Empirical Test Based on the Spatial Durbin Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-23, November.
    3. Luigi Aldieri & Maxim Kotsemir & Concetto Paolo Vinci, 2020. "The role of environmental innovation through the technological proximity in the implementation of the sustainable development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 493-502, February.
    4. Aldieri, Luigi & Grafström, Jonas & Paolo Vinci, Concetto, 2020. "Job Creation in the Wind Power Sector Through Marshallian and Jacobian Knowledge Spillovers," Ratio Working Papers 340, The Ratio Institute.
    5. Aldieri, Luigi & Bruno, Bruna & Makkonen, Teemu & Vinci, Concetto Paolo, 2023. "Environmental innovations, geographically mediated knowledge spillovers, economic and environmental performance," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    6. Vanessa Oltra & Rene Kemp & Frans P. De Vries, 2010. "Patents as a measure for eco-innovation," International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 13(2), pages 130-148.
    7. Albino, Vito & Ardito, Lorenzo & Dangelico, Rosa Maria & Messeni Petruzzelli, Antonio, 2014. "Understanding the development trends of low-carbon energy technologies: A patent analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 836-854.
    8. Sandro Mendonca & Hugo Confraria & Manuel Mira Godinho, 2021. "Appropriating the returns of patent statistics: Take-up and development in the wake of Zvi Griliches," SPRU Working Paper Series 2021-07, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    9. Massimiliano Agovino & Luigi Aldieri & Antonio Garofalo & Concetto Paolo Vinci, 2017. "Quality and quantity in the innovation process of firms: a statistical approach," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1579-1591, July.
    10. Peters, Michael & Schneider, Malte & Griesshaber, Tobias & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2012. "The impact of technology-push and demand-pull policies on technical change – Does the locus of policies matter?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(8), pages 1296-1308.
    11. Luigi Aldieri & Cristian Barra & Nazzareno Ruggiero & Concetto Paolo Vinci, 2023. "Corruption and firms’ efficiency: international evidence using an instrumental variable approach," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(2), pages 731-759, July.
    12. Ren, Shenggang & Hu, Yucai & Zheng, Jingjing & Wang, Yangjie, 2020. "Emissions trading and firm innovation: Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    13. Pedro de Faria & Francisco Lima, 2012. "Interdependence and spillovers: is firm performance affected by others’ innovation activities?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(36), pages 4765-4775, December.
    14. Grafström, Jonas & Poudineh, Rahmat, 2023. "No evidence of counteracting policy effects on European solar power invention and diffusion," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    15. Cristian Barra & Nazzareno Ruggiero, 2022. "On the impact of knowledge and institutional spillovers on RIS efficiency. Evidence from Italian regional level," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 702-752, June.
    16. Zhang, Yijun & Li, Xiaoping & Song, Yi & Jiang, Feitao, 2021. "Can green industrial policy improve total factor productivity? Firm-level evidence from China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 51-62.
    17. Filiou, Despoina & Kesidou, Effie & Wu, Lichao, 2023. "Are smart cities green? The role of environmental and digital policies for Eco-innovation in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    18. Barbieri, Nicolò, 2015. "Investigating the impacts of technological position and European environmental regulation on green automotive patent activity," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 140-152.
    19. Xie, Rong-hui & Yuan, Yi-jun & Huang, Jing-jing, 2017. "Different Types of Environmental Regulations and Heterogeneous Influence on “Green” Productivity: Evidence from China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 104-112.
    20. Luigi Aldieri & Jonas Grafström & Concetto Paolo Vinci, 2021. "The Effect of Marshallian and Jacobian Knowledge Spillovers on Jobs in the Solar, Wind and Energy Efficiency Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-16, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:76:y:2022:i:c:s0301420722000538. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30467 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.