Green Technology Innovation under China’s New Development Concept: The Effects of Policy-Push and Demand-Pull on Renewable Energy Innovation

Abstract

Green technology innovation meets the dual expectation of innovative development and green development perspectives. Under the canonical demand-pull and policy-push theories, a long-term mechanism for green technology innovation could be formed through upstream policy push and downstream demand-pull. Leveraging China’s regional carbon emission trading scheme pilots as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper examines the policy-push and demand-pull effects on innovation in renewable energy patents. The data pertain to the city-level renewable energy patents from 2000 to 2020. Based upon the triple difference-in-difference method, results suggest that both policy-push and demand-pull factors exert positive effects on innovation. This paper further explores the practical and theoretical implications of green technology innovation under the new development perspective.