Green growth versus economic growth: Do sustainable technology transfer and innovations lead to an imperfect choice?

TLDR

Climate‑change mitigation raises a debate: some argue green growth can coexist with economic growth, while others contend that continued intensive consumption undermines sustainability. The study examines how sustainable technology transfer and innovation influence green growth and, in turn, economic growth. Using OECD country‑level data from 1990‑2013 for 32 countries, the authors estimate dynamic panel econometric models to capture temporal differences. Results show that sustainable technology transfer and innovation foster green growth, which in turn boosts economic growth, offering new policy and management insights.

Abstract

Abstract A concern with the mitigation of climate change cuts a transversal line across economic agents, epitomized by two contradictory viewpoints. Some defend that green growth can be achieved without harming economic growth; others argue that it is not possible to respect sustainability if intensive consumption of goods continues to foster economic growth. Our research aims to analyze the role that sustainable technology transfer and sustainable innovations play in green growth and ascertain the impact of green growth on economic growth. We use aggregated country‐level data provided by the OECD, including national accounts, population, and environment statistics (including patents) between 1990 and 2013 for 32 countries, corresponding to an unbalanced panel of 591 observations. We estimate econometric models based on dynamic panel methodologies to capture differences that exist over time. The results show that sustainable technology transfer and sustainable innovation promote green growth, which in turn positively impacts economic growth. We contribute new insight to the green growth versus economic growth debate and provide several political and management implications.