Condicionantes de invenções verdes em países da OECD

Abstract

One of the main current concerns of countries around the world has been to find cleaner sources of energy and thus promote sustainable growth. Proof of this is that patenting activities in technological fields related to this have been growing, especially in more developed countries. Green technological innovations can bring environmental benefits to both businesses and consumers. The positive effects of such innovations can take various forms, such as reducing energy consumption per unit of the product and reducing carbon emissions and the generation of waste or pollution. However, the existence of a technological block and path dependence tend to prevent the process of transition to this clean technological base. Thus, this study evaluates the conditions, including the influence of path dependence, on the behavior of the production of green technologies and the patenting of such technology. In addition, it also addresses the behavior of fossil fuel technologies. A panel of regions from OECD countries and their main economic partners from 1990 to 2016 was used to carry out this study. Patent data was examined, following the classes of the International Patent Classification (IPC) green technology classes and fossil fuels. Path dependence analysis is performed via the GMM System estimates for panel data. This method controls for the presence of endogeneity resulting from the use of temporal lags. The descriptive results show the predominance of the United States and Japan in the production and patenting of both technologies, and Germany in the case of fossil fuel technologies. China and South Korea stand out as important players in the patenting of green technologies. The model estimates revealed the influence of the technological past of a country on green technological production in the present, confirming the idea of path dependence. It was established that the higher the levels of income and economic development, the greater the knowledge spillovers, also the adoption of regulations is associated with greater technological production and green patenting.