Does corporate R&D investment affect firm environmental performance? Evidence from G-6 countries

Md. Samsul Alam, Muhammad Atif, Chu Chien-Chi and Ugur Soytas

Energy Economics, 2019, vol. 78, issue C, 401-411

Abstract: The rate of climate change due to global warming has become a substantial concern and appeared as a real-world phenomenon in the recent years. However, it is imperative to know how business enterprises alter such concern. Recent studies involve a variety of firm-level factors to create a robust link between business enterprises' environmental and financial performance. However, little is known regarding the role of research and development (R&D) investment on firms' environmental performance. Using a firm-level data for the period 2004–2016 from G-6 countries, this study empirically investigates how R&D investment affects the firm environmental performance measured by energy and carbon emissions intensities. We find that R&D investment improves the firm's environmental performance consistent with the theoretical argument of natural resource-based view (NRBV). Our findings are robust to alternative econometric specifications, alternative variable specifications, and sub-samples. Our findings offer novel insights to the policymakers, business managers, and regulators.

Keywords: Sustainability; Carbon emissions; Energy intensity; Corporate R&D investment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F21 G15 O32 P28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (110)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:78:y:2019:i:c:p:401-411

DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2018.11.031

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Energy Economics is currently edited by R. S. J. Tol, Beng Ang, Lance Bachmeier, Perry Sadorsky, Ugur Soytas and J. P. Weyant

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