Impacts of Low-Carbon Innovation and Its Heterogeneous Components on CO 2 Emissions

Zheming Yan, Lan Yi, Kerui Du and Zhiming Yang ()
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Zheming Yan: International Business School, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China
Lan Yi: International Business School, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China
Kerui Du: Center for Economic Research, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: This paper aims to investigate the impact of low-carbon innovation on CO 2 emissions. Using patent statistics, we measured low-carbon innovations for 15 major economies during the period of 1992–2012. Then, we classified low-carbon technology into clean and gray technology according to the patent classification system. Following the empirical Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework, we explored the effects of low-carbon innovation and its components on CO 2 emissions. We did not find any evidence of significant influence of low-carbon innovation. Through further estimations, a significantly negative effect of clean innovation was found while the effect of gray innovation is not clear. Heterogeneous impacts within low-carbon technology provide an explanation for the insignificant impact of low-carbon innovation.

Keywords: low carbon technologies; clean innovation; gray innovation; patent statistics; CO 2 emissions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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