Upholding the green agenda of COP27 through publicly funded R&D on energy efficiencies, renewables, nuclear and power storage technologies

Abstract

Policy strategies to foster climate-change resilient ecosystems require broad-based identification of the mechanisms underlying the nexus. Prior investigations, maybe, inadvertently left so many factors unverified. Failing to verify, specifically, how climate change is influenced by public-funded research and development (R&D) on energy efficiencies, renewables, nuclear energy, and power storage technologies concealed vital policy insights. We have analyzed a panel series of the aforementioned factors stretching from 1985 to 2021 in the context of G10 countries. Several innovative panel techniques robust to cross-national exigencies were implemented. This includes two recently introduced third-generation panel unit-root procedures, the Banerjee and Carrion-i-Silvestre cointegration process, the fully-generalized least square, panel-corrected standard error, Driscoll-Kray standard errors, and the dynamic common correlated effects estimator. Long-run elasticities informed that total R&D expenditure on green-technologies is more effective in mitigating energy-induced emissions than the overall surface temperature. R&D expenditure on energy efficiencies, renewables, and nuclear energies performed better in minifying both metrics than power storage. Fossil fuel technologies remained inimical to environmental sustainability. Energy-tax promoted environmental quality significantly by reducing both energy emissions and climate temperature. It is commendable to invest more in energy-enhancing technologies but other factors that have a direct bearing on climate-change deserve consideration.