IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v109y2017icp499-509.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Convergence or divergence? Understanding the global development trend of low-carbon technologies

Author

Listed:
  • Yan, Zheming
  • Du, Keru
  • Yang, Zhiming
  • Deng, Min

Abstract

The low-carbon technological innovation is playing a vital role in climate change mitigation. This paper aims to investigate the development trend of low-carbon technologies in the world. Using the patent data, we estimate low-carbon technology levels of 72 economies during the period of 1990–2012 and 19 OECD economies during the period of 1960–2012. Then, we explore the convergence patterns of low-carbon technologies among different regions based on a nonlinear time-varying factor model. The main findings are as follows. We do not find evidence of convergence for the 72 economies during the period of 1990–2012. But the convergence hypothesis for the 19 OECD economies during the period of 1960–2012 can not be rejected. Through the clustering method proposed by Phillips and Sul (2007), some convergence clubs are also identified. Our findings stress the importance of worldwide low-carbon technology cooperation: accelerating technology diffusion across regions and promoting projects of technology transfer to regions with low technology levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Yan, Zheming & Du, Keru & Yang, Zhiming & Deng, Min, 2017. "Convergence or divergence? Understanding the global development trend of low-carbon technologies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 499-509.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:109:y:2017:i:c:p:499-509
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2017.07.024
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421517304561
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.07.024?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. Philippe Aghion & Diego Comin & Peter Howitt & Isabel Tecu, 2016. "When Does Domestic Savings Matter for Economic Growth?," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 64(3), pages 381-407, August.
    2. Peter C. B. Phillips & Donggyu Sul, 2007. "Transition Modeling and Econometric Convergence Tests," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(6), pages 1771-1855, November.
    3. Robert C. Feenstra & Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2015. "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3150-3182, October.
    4. Phillips, Peter C.B. & Sul, Donggyu, 2007. "Some empirics on economic growth under heterogeneous technology," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 455-469, September.
    5. Sala-i-Martin, Xavier X., 1996. "Regional cohesion: Evidence and theories of regional growth and convergence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1325-1352, June.
    6. Howitt, Peter & Mayer-Foulkes, David, 2005. "R&D, Implementation, and Stagnation: A Schumpeterian Theory of Convergence Clubs," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(1), pages 147-177, February.
    7. Mark Strazicich & John List, 2003. "Are CO 2 Emission Levels Converging Among Industrial Countries?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 24(3), pages 263-271, March.
    8. Durlauf, Steven N. & Johnson, Paul A. & Temple, Jonathan R.W., 2005. "Growth Econometrics," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.),Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 8, pages 555-677, Elsevier.
    9. Phu Nguyen Van, 2005. "Distribution Dynamics of CO 2 Emissions," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 32(4), pages 495-508, December.
    10. Jonathan Temple, 2005. "Dual Economy Models: A Primer For Growth Economists," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 73(4), pages 435-478, July.
    11. Raphael Calel & Antoine Dechezleprêtre, 2016. "Environmental Policy and Directed Technological Change: Evidence from the European Carbon Market," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(1), pages 173-191, March.
    12. Bernard, Andrew B. & Durlauf, Steven N., 1996. "Interpreting tests of the convergence hypothesis," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1-2), pages 161-173.
    13. Li, Xuehui & Lin, Boqiang, 2013. "Global convergence in per capita CO2 emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 357-363.
    14. Galor, Oded, 1996. "Convergence? Inferences from Theoretical Models," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(437), pages 1056-1069, July.
    15. Wolfgang Keller, 2002. "Geographic Localization of International Technology Diffusion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 120-142, March.
    16. David Popp, 2012. "The Role of Technological Change in Green Growth," NBER Working Papers 18506, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Evans, Paul, 1996. "Using cross-country variances to evaluate growth theories," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 20(6-7), pages 1027-1049.
    18. repec:fth:harver:1473 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Philippe Aghion & Peter Howitt, 2009. "The Economics of Growth," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262012634, April.
    20. Mishra, Vinod & Smyth, Russell, 2014. "Convergence in energy consumption per capita among ASEAN countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 180-185.
    21. Joseph E. Aldy, 2007. "Divergence in State-Level Per Capita Carbon Dioxide Emissions," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 83(3), pages 353-369.
    22. Laura Bottazzi & Giovanni Peri, 2007. "The International Dynamics of R&D and Innovation in the Long Run and in The Short Run," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(518), pages 486-511, March.
    23. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    24. Bernard, Andrew B & Durlauf, Steven N, 1995. "Convergence in International Output," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(2), pages 97-108, April-Jun.
    25. Philippe Aghion & Peter Howitt & David Mayer-Foulkes, 2005. "The Effect of Financial Development on Convergence: Theory and Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(1), pages 173-222.
    26. Ezcurra, Roberto, 2007. "Is there cross-country convergence in carbon dioxide emissions?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 1363-1372, February.
    27. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 287-343, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    28. Wolfgang Keller, 2004. "International Technology Diffusion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 752-782, September.
    29. Peter C. B. Phillips & Donggyu Sul, 2009. "Economic transition and growth," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(7), pages 1153-1185.
    30. Marco Barassi & Matthew Cole & Robert Elliott, 2008. "Stochastic Divergence or Convergence of Per Capita Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Re-examining the Evidence," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 40(1), pages 121-137, May.
    31. Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), 2005. "Handbook of Economic Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    32. Miguel-Angel Martín & Agustín Herranz, 2004. "Human capital and economic growth in Spanish regions," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 10(4), pages 257-264, November.
    33. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Han, J.Y., 2010. "Total factor carbon emission performance: A Malmquist index analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 194-201, January.
    34. Joseph Aldy, 2006. "Per Capita Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Convergence or Divergence?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 33(4), pages 533-555, April.
    35. Elena Verdolini & Marzio Galeotti, 2009. "At Home and Abroad: An Empirical Analysis of Innovation and Diffusion in Energy-Efficient Technologies," Working Papers 2009.123, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    36. Declan Conway & Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Ivan Haščič & Nick Johnstone, 2015. "Invention and Diffusion of Water Supply and Water Efficiency Technologies: Insights from a Global Patent Dataset," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 1(04), pages 1-34, December.
    37. Ivan Haščič & Mauro Migotto, 2015. "Measuring environmental innovation using patent data," OECD Environment Working Papers 89, OECD Publishing.
    38. Burnett, J. Wesley, 2016. "Club convergence and clustering of U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 62-84.
    39. Philippe Aghion & Peter Howitt, 2006. "Joseph Schumpeter Lecture Appropriate Growth Policy: A Unifying Framework," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(2-3), pages 269-314, 04-05.
    40. Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Matthieu Glachant & Ivan Haščič & Nick Johnstone & Yann Ménière, 2011. "Invention and Transfer of Climate Change--Mitigation Technologies: A Global Analysis," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 5(1), pages 109-130, Winter.
    41. Lanjouw, Jean Olson & Mody, Ashoka, 1996. "Innovation and the international diffusion of environmentally responsive technology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 549-571, June.
    42. Kim, Young Se, 2015. "Electricity consumption and economic development: Are countries converging to a common trend?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 192-202.
    43. Ivan Haščič & Jérôme Silva & Nick Johnstone, 2015. "The Use of Patent Statistics for International Comparisons and Analysis of Narrow Technological Fields," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2015/5, OECD Publishing.
    44. Zhang, Ning & Wang, Bing & Liu, Zhu, 2016. "Carbon emissions dynamics, efficiency gains, and technological innovation in China's industrial sectors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 10-19.
    45. Mohammadi, Hassan & Ram, Rati, 2012. "Cross-country convergence in energy and electricity consumption, 1971–2007," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1882-1887.
    46. Caselli, Francesco & Esquivel, Gerardo & Lefort, Fernando, 1996. "Reopening the Convergence Debate: A New Look at Cross-Country Growth Empirics," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(3), pages 363-389, September.
    47. Meng, Ming & Payne, James E. & Lee, Junsoo, 2013. "Convergence in per capita energy use among OECD countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 536-545.
    48. Ahmed, Mumtaz & Khan, Atif Maqbool & Bibi, Salma & Zakaria, Muhammad, 2017. "Convergence of per capita CO2 emissions across the globe: Insights via wavelet analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 86-97.
    49. -, 2009. "Economic growth in the Caribbean," Sede Subregional de la CEPAL para el Caribe (Estudios e Investigaciones) 38668, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    50. Evans, Paul & Karras, Georgios, 1996. "Convergence revisited," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 249-265, April.
    51. Ordás Criado, C. & Grether, J.-M., 2011. "Convergence in per capita CO2 emissions: A robust distributional approach," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 637-665, September.
    52. Popp, David, 2012. "The role of technological change in green growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6239, The World Bank.
    53. Verdolini, Elena & Galeotti, Marzio, 2011. "At home and abroad: An empirical analysis of innovation and diffusion in energy technologies," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 119-134, March.
    54. Lant Pritchett, 1997. "Divergence, Big Time," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 3-17, Summer.
    55. Peter J. Klenow & Andrés Rodríguez-Clare, 1997. "The Neoclassical Revival in Growth Economics: Has It Gone Too Far?," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1997, Volume 12, pages 73-114, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    56. Jonathan R. W. Temple, 2005. "Growth and Wage Inequality in a Dual Economy," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(2), pages 145-169, April.
    57. 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.
    58. Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Matthieu Glachant & Ivan Haščič & Nick Johnstone & Yann Ménière, 2011. "Invention and Transfer of Climate Change--Mitigation Technologies: A Global Analysis," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 5(1), pages 109-130, Winter.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Burnett, J. Wesley, 2016. "Club convergence and clustering of U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 62-84.
    2. Zheming Yan & Rui Shi & Zhiming Yang, 2018. "ICT Development and Sustainable Energy Consumption: A Perspective of Energy Productivity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Octavio Fernández-Amador & Doris A. Oberdabernig & Patrick Tomberger, 2019. "Testing for Convergence in Carbon Dioxide Emissions Using a Bayesian Robust Structural Model," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(4), pages 1265-1286, August.
    4. Zheming Yan & Lan Yi & Kerui Du & Zhiming Yang, 2017. "Impacts of Low-Carbon Innovation and Its Heterogeneous Components on CO 2 Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-14, April.
    5. Nazlioglu, Saban & Payne, James E. & Lee, Junsoo & Rayos-Velazquez, Marco & Karul, Cagin, 2021. "Convergence in OPEC carbon dioxide emissions: Evidence from new panel stationarity tests with factors and breaks," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    6. Belloc, Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto, 2023. "Are greenhouse gas emissions converging in Latin America? Implications for environmental policies," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 337-356.
    7. Rodríguez-Benavides, Domingo & Andrés-Rosales, Roldán & Álvarez-García, José & Bekun, Festus Víctor, 2024. "Convergence of clubs between per capita carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and cement production," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    8. Vaseem Akram & Badri Narayan Rath & Pradipta Kumar Sahoo, 2024. "Club convergence in per capita carbon dioxide emissions across Indian states," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(8), pages 19907-19934, August.
    9. Ahmed, Mumtaz & Khan, Atif Maqbool & Bibi, Salma & Zakaria, Muhammad, 2017. "Convergence of per capita CO2 emissions across the globe: Insights via wavelet analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 86-97.
    10. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E., 2017. "Per capita carbon dioxide emissions across U.S. states by sector and fossil fuel source: Evidence from club convergence tests," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 365-372.
    11. Ordás Criado, C. & Grether, J.-M., 2011. "Convergence in per capita CO2 emissions: A robust distributional approach," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 637-665, September.
    12. Ivanovski, Kris & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa, 2020. "Convergence and determinants of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia: A regional analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    13. Payne, James E. & Vizek, Maruška & Lee, Junsoo, 2017. "Is there convergence in per capita renewable energy consumption across U.S. States? Evidence from LM and RALS-LM unit root tests with breaks," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 715-728.
    14. Elena Verdolini & Valentina Bosetti, 2017. "Environmental Policy and the International Diffusion of Cleaner Energy Technologies," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 66(3), pages 497-536, March.
    15. Kounetas, Konstantinos Elias, 2018. "Energy consumption and CO2 emissions convergence in European Union member countries. A tonneau des Danaides?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 111-127.
    16. Ivanovski, Kris & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2018. "A club convergence analysis of per capita energy consumption across Australian regions and sectors," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 519-531.
    17. Le Pen, Yannick & Sévi, Benoît, 2010. "On the non-convergence of energy intensities: Evidence from a pair-wise econometric approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 641-650, January.
    18. Liu, Tie-Ying & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2020. "Convergence of the world’s energy use," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    19. James B. Ang & Jakob B. Madsen, 2012. "Risk capital, private credit, and innovative production," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 45(4), pages 1608-1639, November.
    20. Li, Kui-Wai & Zhou, Xianbo & Pan, Zhewen, 2016. "Cross-country output convergence and growth: Evidence from varying coefficient nonparametric method," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 32-41.

    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:enepol:v:109:y:2017:i:c:p:499-509. 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/enpol .

    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.