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Role of low-carbon technology innovation in environmental performance of manufacturing: evidence from OECD countries

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Abstract

Climate change disrupts the balance of natural ecosystems and threatens the sustainable development of human society. As the leading industry in many countries, manufacturing promotes economic growth; unfortunately, it also emits large quantities of greenhouse gases. Thus, it is necessary to transform the production pattern of manufacturing into green production. Although technology innovation is the only way to tackle the issue, different types of technology innovation may lead to various environmental performances. We argue that low-carbon technology innovation (LCTI) is the key to green production. Using data of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries from 1990 to 2014, we use the patent-stock method to measure LCTI levels and analyze its development trend in OECD countries. Based on the shepherd distance function, we measure carbon efficiency and carbon productivity by the fixed-effect Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) model. Then we investigate the effect of LCTI on carbon emission efficiency in manufacturing by the fixed-effect regression model. After controlling some variables, evidence shows a significant positive influence of LCTI on the environmental performance of manufacturing. The level of LCTI constantly increased in OECD countries during the study period. Among these countries, the level of low-carbon technology in the chemical industry is the highest; in most countries, the low-carbon technology of the production process grows fastest. Policy implications are further discussed.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the OECD database, https://stats.oecd.org/.

Funding

The Major Project of the National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 15ZDA052), National Soft Science Project of State Forestry and Grassland Administration (No. 2019131039), the Key Special Funds of Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Finance (Grant No. CARS-07-F-1), and the Key Project of Six Industrial Research Institutes of Northwest Agricultural and Forestry University (Grant No. Z221021601) supported this research. Major Research Project of County Economy in Shaanxi Province (No. 2019XY012) and Scientific Research and Innovation Projects of Northwest A&F University (No. JGYJSCXXM202001) also supported this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China

    Rui Shi, Yu Cui & Minjuan Zhao

Authors
  1. Rui Shi
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  2. Yu Cui
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  3. Minjuan Zhao
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Contributions

Rui Shi: conceptualization, writing (original draft), methodology, formal analysis, investigation, and software. Yu Cui: investigation and writing—review and editing. Minjuan Zhao: funding acquisition, project administration, and supervision.

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Correspondence to Minjuan Zhao.

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Responsible editor: Roula Inglesi-Lotz

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Shi, R., Cui, Y. & Zhao, M. Role of low-carbon technology innovation in environmental performance of manufacturing: evidence from OECD countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 68572–68584 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15057-0

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