IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/biw/wpaper/21.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Energy technology patents-CO2 emissions nexus: An empirical analysis from China

Author

Listed:
  • Zhaohua Wang
  • Yixiang Zhang
  • Xian Zhang

Abstract

Energy technology innovation plays a crucial role in reducing carbon emissions. This paper investigates whether there is relationship between energy technology patents and CO2 emissions of 30 provinces in mainland China during 1997 - 2008. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is included in the study due to its impact on CO2 emissions and energy technology innovation, thus avoiding the problem of omitted variable bias. Furthermore, we investigate three cross-regional groups, namely eastern, central and western China. The results show that domestic patents for fossil-fueled technologies have no significant effect on CO2 emissions reduction; however, domestic patents for carbon-free energy technologies appear to play an important role in reducing CO2 emissions, which is significant in eastern China, but is not significant in central, western, and national level of China. The results of this study enrich energy technology innovation theories and provide some implications for energy technology policy making.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhaohua Wang & Yixiang Zhang & Xian Zhang, 2011. "Energy technology patents-CO2 emissions nexus: An empirical analysis from China," CEEP-BIT Working Papers 21, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEP), Beijing Institute of Technology.
    • Handle: RePEc:biw:wpaper:21
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ceep.net.cn/docs/2014-07/20140714182939051998.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jamasb, Tooraj & Pollitt, Michael G., 2011. "Electricity sector liberalisation and innovation: An analysis of the UK's patenting activities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 309-324, March.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Taylor, Margaret, 2008. "Beyond technology-push and demand-pull: Lessons from California's solar policy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 2829-2854, November.
    5. Sagar, Ambuj D. & van der Zwaan, Bob, 2006. "Technological innovation in the energy sector: R&D, deployment, and learning-by-doing," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(17), pages 2601-2608, November.
    6. Matthieu Glachant & Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Ivan Hascic & Nick Johnstone & Yann Ménière, 2009. "Invention and Transfer of Climate Change Mitigation Technologies on a Global Scale: A Study Drawing on Patent Data," Working Papers 2009.82, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    7. Kaddour Hadri, 2000. "Testing for stationarity in heterogeneous panel data," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 3(2), pages 148-161.
    8. Auerswald, Philip E & Branscomb, Lewis M, 2003. "Valleys of Death and Darwinian Seas: Financing the Invention to Innovation Transition in the United States," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 28(3-4), pages 227-239, August.
    9. Garrone, Paola & Grilli, Luca, 2010. "Is there a relationship between public expenditures in energy R&D and carbon emissions per GDP? An empirical investigation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 5600-5613, October.
    10. Wu, Libo & Kaneko, Shinji & Matsuoka, Shunji, 2005. "Driving forces behind the stagnancy of China's energy-related CO2 emissions from 1996 to 1999: the relative importance of structural change, intensity change and scale change," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 319-335, February.
    11. Popp, David & Newell, Richard G. & Jaffe, Adam B., 2010. "Energy, the Environment, and Technological Change," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 873-937, Elsevier.
    12. Sagar, A. D. & Holdren, J. P., 2002. "Assessing the global energy innovation system: some key issues," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 465-469, May.
    13. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    14. 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.
    15. repec:fth:harver:1473 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Fischer, Carolyn & Newell, Richard G., 2008. "Environmental and technology policies for climate mitigation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 142-162, March.
    17. Margolis, Robert M. & Kammen, Daniel M., 1999. "Evidence of under-investment in energy R&D in the United States and the impact of Federal policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(10), pages 575-584, October.
    18. Karsten Neuhoff, 2005. "Large-Scale Deployment of Renewables for Electricity Generation," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 21(1), pages 88-110, Spring.
    19. Bernstein, Paul M. & Montgomery, W. David & Tuladhar, Sugandha D., 2006. "Potential for reducing carbon emissions from non-Annex B countries through changes in technology," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(5-6), pages 742-762, November.
    20. Nemet, Gregory F., 2009. "Demand-pull, technology-push, and government-led incentives for non-incremental technical change," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 700-709, June.
    21. Peter Pedroni, 1999. "Critical Values for Cointegration Tests in Heterogeneous Panels with Multiple Regressors," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(S1), pages 653-670, November.
    22. Popp, David & Hascic, Ivan & Medhi, Neelakshi, 2011. "Technology and the diffusion of renewable energy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 648-662, July.
    23. Ang, James B., 2009. "CO2 emissions, research and technology transfer in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 2658-2665, August.
    24. Kao, Chihwa, 1999. "Spurious regression and residual-based tests for cointegration in panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 1-44, May.
    25. Lüthi, Sonja & Prässler, Thomas, 2011. "Analyzing policy support instruments and regulatory risk factors for wind energy deployment--A developers' perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 4876-4892, September.
    26. 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.
    27. Popp, David, 2006. "International innovation and diffusion of air pollution control technologies: the effects of NOX and SO2 regulation in the US, Japan, and Germany," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 46-71, January.
    28. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July.
    29. Sorrell, Steve & Dimitropoulos, John & Sommerville, Matt, 2009. "Empirical estimates of the direct rebound effect: A review," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1356-1371, April.
    30. Yi, Wen-Jing & Zou, Le-Le & Guo, Jie & Wang, Kai & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2011. "How can China reach its CO2 intensity reduction targets by 2020? A regional allocation based on equity and development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2407-2415, May.
    31. van Vuuren, Detlef & Fengqi, Zhou & Vries, Bert de & Kejun, Jiang & Graveland, Cor & Yun, Li, 2003. "Energy and emission scenarios for China in the 21st century--exploration of baseline development and mitigation options," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 369-387, March.
    32. G. S. Maddala & Shaowen Wu, 1999. "A Comparative Study of Unit Root Tests with Panel Data and a New Simple Test," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(S1), pages 631-652, November.
    33. Wang, Qiang & Chen, Yong, 2010. "Status and outlook of China's free-carbon electricity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 1014-1025, April.
    34. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    35. Schroeder, Miriam, 2009. "Utilizing the clean development mechanism for the deployment of renewable energies in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 237-242, February.
    36. Pedroni, Peter, 1999. "Critical Values for Cointegration Tests in Heterogeneous Panels with Multiple Regressors," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(0), pages 653-670, Special I.
    37. Johansen, Soren, 1995. "Likelihood-Based Inference in Cointegrated Vector Autoregressive Models," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198774501, Decembrie.
    38. T Randolph Beard & George S Ford & Thomas M Koutsky & Lawrence J Spiwak, 2009. "A Valley of Death in the innovation sequence: an economic investigation," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(5), pages 343-356, December.
    39. Levin, Andrew & Lin, Chien-Fu & James Chu, Chia-Shang, 2002. "Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-24, May.
    40. Fisher-Vanden, Karen & Sue Wing, Ian, 2008. "Accounting for quality: Issues with modeling the impact of R&D on economic growth and carbon emissions in developing economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 2771-2784, November.
    41. Maddala, G S & Wu, Shaowen, 1999. "A Comparative Study of Unit Root Tests with Panel Data and a New Simple Test," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(0), pages 631-652, Special I.
    42. Chen, Qixin & Kang, Chongqing & Xia, Qing & Guan, Dabo, 2011. "Preliminary exploration on low-carbon technology roadmap of China’s power sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 1500-1512.
    43. Gnansounou, Edgard & Dong, Jun & Bedniaguine, Denis, 2004. "The strategic technology options for mitigating CO2 emissions in power sector: assessment of Shanghai electricity-generating system," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1-2), pages 117-133, September.
    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. Garrone, Paola & Grilli, Luca, 2010. "Is there a relationship between public expenditures in energy R&D and carbon emissions per GDP? An empirical investigation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 5600-5613, October.
    2. Ronald MacDonald & Flávio Vieira, "undated". "A panel data investigation of real exchange rate misalignment and growth," Working Papers 2010_13, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    3. Gharehgozli, Orkideh, 2021. "An empirical comparison between a regression framework and the Synthetic Control Method," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 70-81.
    4. Dobnik, Frauke, 2011. "Energy Consumption and Economic Growth Revisited: Structural Breaks and Cross-section Dependence," Ruhr Economic Papers 303, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    5. Alessio Ciarlone, 2019. "The relationship between financial development and growth: the case of emerging Europe," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 521, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    6. Ardeshiri, Mansour & Moghaddasi, Reza & Yazdani, Saeed & Mohamadinejad, Amir, . "Trade Openness and Spatial Distribution of Manufacturing Industries: Iranian Provincial Evidence," Asian Journal of Applied Economics, Kasetsart University, Center for Applied Economics Research, vol. 26(1).
    7. Dehghan Shabani, Zahra & Shahnazi, Rouhollah, 2019. "Energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, information and communications technology, and gross domestic product in Iranian economic sectors: A panel causality analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 1064-1078.
    8. Hu, Yi & Xiao, Jin & Deng, Ying & Xiao, Yi & Wang, Shouyang, 2015. "Domestic air passenger traffic and economic growth in China: Evidence from heterogeneous panel models," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 95-100.
    9. Qamruzzaman, Md & Jianguo, Wei, 2020. "The asymmetric relationship between financial development, trade openness, foreign capital flows, and renewable energy consumption: Fresh evidence from panel NARDL investigation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 827-842.
    10. Frauke Dobnik, 2011. "Energy Consumption and Economic Growth Revisited: Structural Breaks and Cross-section Dependence," Ruhr Economic Papers 0303, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    11. Md. Qamruzzaman & Jianguo Wei, 2019. "Financial Innovation and Financial Inclusion Nexus in South Asian Countries: Evidence from Symmetric and Asymmetric Panel Investigation," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-27, October.
    12. Qamruzzaman, Md, 2022. "Nexus between renewable energy, foreign direct investment, and agro-productivity: The mediating role of carbon emission," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 526-540.
    13. Sung, Bongsuk & Song, Woo-Yong, 2014. "How government policies affect the export dynamics of renewable energy technologies: A subsectoral analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 843-859.
    14. repec:zbw:rwirep:0303 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Polemis, Michail & Fotis, Panagiotis, 2011. "Gasoline price asymmetries in the Euro Zone," MPRA Paper 32755, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Ferreira, Cândida, 2020. "Globalisation and Economic Growth: A Panel Data Approach," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 73(2), pages 187-236.
    17. Sung, Bongsuk & Song, Woo-Yong & Park, Sang-Do, 2018. "How foreign direct investment affects CO2 emission levels in the Chinese manufacturing industry: Evidence from panel data," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 320-331.
    18. Breitung, Jörg & Pesaran, Mohammad Hashem, 2005. "Unit roots and cointegration in panels," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2005,42, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    19. Popp, David, 2012. "The role of technological change in green growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6239, The World Bank.
    20. Eberechukwu UNEZE, 2011. "Foreign Aid And The Real Exchange Rate In The West African Economic And Monetary Union (Waemu)," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 11(2).
    21. George Hondroyiannis, 2010. "Fertility Determinants and Economic Uncertainty: An Assessment Using European Panel Data," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 33-50, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    energy technology patents; CO2 emissions; dynamic panel data approach;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General
    • C13 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Estimation: General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:biw:wpaper:21. 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: Zhi-Fu Mi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cebitcn.html .

    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.