High Tariffs, High Stakes : The Policy Drivers behind Firm-Level Adoption of Green Technologies

Addressing climate change requires the deployment of green technologies. Using novel transaction-level import data from firms in 35 emerging markets in a firm-level structural gravity model, this paper examines the trade policy determinants of firms' imports of products associated with green value chains of solar photovoltaic, wind power, and electric vehicles. The panel estimates indicate that firms' import response to tariffs is particularly adverse for products associated with green value chains relative to average imports, driven by the solar value chain and downstream segments across all green value chains. This effect is pervasive for both the values and quantities imported by firms as well as for the probability of firms importing these products. Moreover, the effect is even more negative for undiversified firms. In contrast, import regulations have a smaller and more varied impact on firms' imports of products associated with green value chains. The findings suggest that governments in emerging markets should avoid adopting protectionist policies that are increasingly used in high-income countries, as their local firms rely on imports for the short-term diffusion of green technologies.