We analyze the use of patent protection as a new policy to direct technical change to clean technology. Contrary to popular belief, it is dirty (and not clean) innovations that should be excluded from patent protection to reduce emissions. In the shortrun, removing patent protection on dirty...

This article uses patent data to examine the impact of public environmental policy on innovations in environment-related technology. The analysis is conducted using data on an unbalanced panel of 77 countries between 2001 and 2007, drawing upon data obtained from the European Patent Office (EPO)...

This paper presents comparative data on innovation in selected climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies in the context of Africa. Such analysis informs policy aimed at encouraging international technology transfer and development of domestic innovation capacities. We present...

Clean technologies implemented by polluters subject to environmental regulation are often developed and patented by specialized technology suppliers. This paper investigates the impact of the environmental regulation stringency on the diffusion of patented clean technologies when the polluters...

Drawing upon the literature on environmental innovation and social metabolism, this paper investigates whether technology can lessen the problem of scarce natural resources. We focus on fossil and biomass materials as important resources for production and consumption. Utilizing a dynamic panel...

In this paper, we characterize optimal environmental policy in a case where innovation in clean production technologies is developed and provided by a monopoly. Two policy instruments are considered: an emission tax on downstream polluting firms and an R& D subsidy for an upstream innovator in...

We develop a dynamic duopoly model of R&D competition to improve the quality of a finalgood. The innovation process is sequential and cumulative, and takes place alongside productionin an infinite-horizon setting. In this context we study the R&D incentive impacts resultingfrom a “research...

The paper analyzes a dynamic model of R&D investment with inter- and intrasectoral R&D spillovers, in which the profitability of an invention in one sector increases if there is an innovation in another sector. Interpreting intrasectoral R&D spillovers as a measure of intellectual property...

In this contribution we describe how green policies should be designed to activate private innovation forces for ecological transitions. We look at the evidence on the current deployment of green policies and the current performance of the private green innovation machine. We try to assess how...