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The effects of environmental innovations and international technology spillovers on industrial and energy sector emissions – Evidence from small open economies

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  • Alola, Andrew Adewale
  • Rahko, Jaana

Abstract

Environmental innovations hold promise for cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but most technology investments are made in large technologically leading countries. Thus, emission reductions in small open economies, such as the Nordic countries, depend on not only domestic technological development, but also technology spillovers from foreign countries. The present study analysed how the development of climate change technologies affected the Nordic countries' GHG emissions from the industrial and energy sectors during a particular time frame. Consequently, while controlling for economic growth and population, domestic and foreign technological development's effects on industrial and energy sector GHG emissions were examined from the 1990–2019 period. The results revealed that both domestically developed environmental technologies and technology spillovers from foreign economies mitigated GHG emissions from these nations' energy and industrial sectors, thereby providing an efficient pathway to achieving sectoral environmental sustainability. In particular, domestic environmental technologies were found to be more efficient in driving environmental sustainability in the industrial sector, whereas impacts from domestic and foreign technological development did not differ significantly in the energy sector. Furthermore, given that economic growth plays a vital role in GHG emissions, environmental Kuznets curve (EKC; inverted U-shaped and U-shaped) relationships have been observed in the energy and industrial sectors, respectively. This suggests that the examined countries' industrial sectors have more environmental quality hurdles to overcome.

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  • Alola, Andrew Adewale & Rahko, Jaana, 2024. "The effects of environmental innovations and international technology spillovers on industrial and energy sector emissions – Evidence from small open economies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:198:y:2024:i:c:s0040162523007096
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2023.123024
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    Cited by:

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    2. Kahouli, Bassem & Omri, Anis & Afi, Hatem, 2024. "Technological innovations and health performance: Effects and transmission channels," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    3. Nguyen, Thi Hao & Deng, Hongbing & Abbas, Zainab Zahra & Lam, Thi Thoa & Abbas, Hussain Raza, 2024. "The effect of natural capital, regional development, FDI, and natural resource rent on environmental performance: The Mediating role of green innovation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    4. Wang, Lu & Ruan, Hang & Lai, Xiaodong & Li, Dongxin, 2024. "Economic extremes steering renewable energy trajectories: A time-frequency dissection of global shocks," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    5. Kharb, Ravita & Suneja, Vivek & Aggarwal, Shalini & Singh, Pragati & Shahzad, Umer & Saini, Neha & Kumar, Dinesh, 2024. "The relationship between investment determinants and environmental sustainability: Evidence through meta-analysis," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 267-280.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Greenhouse gases; Emissions; Environmental technologies; Diffusion of technology; Nordics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O44 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Environment and Growth
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics

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