Global and Local Technological Changes with Environmental Factors: Analysis of the Agricultural Sector in the Belt and Road Countries

The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development necessitates the expansion of green agriculture, which entails the adoption of low-carbon technologies. This study expands the understanding of technological progress by incorporating the consideration of undesirable outputs within the by-production model framework. Convex and nonconvex models are applied to calculate the distance function, from which the Luenberger productivity indicator is obtained and decomposed into economic and environmental efficiencies. Then, this study assesses the contribution of global and local innovation forces to technological progress, taking environmental factors into account. Additionally, it examines the beta-convergence of productivity and identifies some countries as innovators. Analyzing the technological changes in the agricultural sector across 53 Belt and Road nations, the findings indicate advancements in green productivity, efficiency changes, and technological progress, with technological progress in the environmental dimension contributing the most to efficiency improvement. Moreover, 14 out of 53 sample countries experience both global and local technological progress, with global and local innovation forces contributing equally. However, agricultural green development in these countries does not converge. Therefore, the findings of this study suggest that the Belt and Road countries should prioritize environmental technological innovation and agricultural cooperation to foster sustainable development.