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Intra-Firm Diffusion of Green Energy Technologies and the Choice of Policy Instruments

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Abstract

Environmental benefits only unfold if green (environmentally friendly) technologies are widely diffused and intensively deployed within a firm. We investigate how different types of policies - directly and in combination - affect the number of different green energy technologies adopted by a single firm (intra-firm diffusion). Using data from a dedicated survey on the diffusion of green energy technologies of 1200 Swiss firms and applying well-identified econometric models, we found that energy taxes are a very effective policy instrument for the intra-firm diffusion of green energy technologies. Even more important, however, are non-political measures that show the largest effect among all tested instruments. Additional analyses show that (a) time-consistency in policy making is more important for energy tax regimes than for regulations and (b) no evidence for complementarities between the policy types could be identified.

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  • Martin Woerter & Tobias Stucki, 2016. "Intra-Firm Diffusion of Green Energy Technologies and the Choice of Policy Instruments," KOF Working papers 16-401, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    • Handle: RePEc:kof:wpskof:16-401
    DOI: 10.3929/ethz-a-010692106
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    Cited by:

    1. Dezhong Duan & Hong Jin, 2022. "Environmental Regulation and Green Technology Diffusion: A Case Study of Yangtze River Delta, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-14, October.
    2. Tuochen Li & Xinyu Zhou, 2022. "Research on the Mechanism of Government–Industry–University–Institute Collaborative Innovation in Green Technology Based on Game–Based Cellular Automata," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-25, March.
    3. Tobias Stucki & Daniel Wochner, 2019. "Technological and organizational capital: Where complementarities exist," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 458-487, June.
    4. Rammer, Christian & Gottschalk, Sandra & Peneder, Michael & Wörter, Martin & Stucki, Tobias & Arvanitis, Spyros, 2017. "Does energy policy hurt international competitiveness of firms? A comparative study for Germany, Switzerland and Austria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 154-180.
    5. Zhongju Liao & Yan Liu & Mengsha Li, 2020. "Is environmental innovation contagious? A study on the mechanism of individual firms' environmental innovation affecting the industry," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1787-1795, November.
    6. Michael Peneder & Spyros Arvanitis & Christian Rammer & Tobias Stucki & Martin Wörter, 2022. "Policy instruments and self-reported impacts of the adoption of energy saving technologies in the DACH region," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 369-404, May.
    7. Stucki, Tobias & Woerter, Martin & Arvanitis, Spyros & Peneder, Michael & Rammer, Christian, 2018. "How different policy instruments affect green product innovation: A differentiated perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 245-261.
    8. De Xia & Wenhua Chen & Qinglu Gao & Rui Zhang & Yundong Zhang, 2021. "Research on Enterprises’ Intention to Adopt Green Technology Imposed by Environmental Regulations with Perspective of State Ownership," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-19, January.
    9. Spyros Arvanitis & Michael Peneder & Christian Rammer & Tobias Stucki & Martin Wörter, 2016. "Competitiveness and ecological impacts of green energy technologies: firm-level evidence for the DACH region," KOF Working papers 16-420, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    10. Stucki, Tobias, 2019. "Which firms benefit from investments in green energy technologies? – The effect of energy costs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 546-555.
    11. Spyros Arvanitis & Michael Peneder & Christian Rammer & Tobias Stucki & Martin Wörter, 2016. "The adoption of green energy technologies: The role of policies in an international comparison," KOF Working papers 16-411, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    12. Mingxing Li & Xinxing Wang & Zihao Wang & Babar Maqbool & Abid Hussain & Waris Ali Khan, 2022. "Bibliometric Analysis of the Research on the Impact of Environmental Regulation on Green Technology Innovation Based on CiteSpace," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-26, October.
    13. Chang, Kai & Wan, Qiong & Lou, Qichun & Chen, Yili & Wang, Weihong, 2020. "Green fiscal policy and firms’ investment efficiency: New insights into firm-level panel data from the renewable energy industry in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 589-597.
    14. Spyros Arvanitis & Michael Peneder & Christian Rammer & Tobias Stucki & Martin Wörter, 2016. "How Different Policy Instruments Affect the Creation of Green Energy Innovation: A Differentiated Perspective," KOF Working papers 16-417, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    15. Meili, Rahel & Stucki, Tobias, 2023. "Money matters: The role of money as a regional and corporate financial resource for circular economy transition at firm-level," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(10).

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