Green Growth and Technology: Is there a Relationship with Green Innovation?

Abstract

This study intends to analyze how the adoption of Green Innovation (GI) practices by companies of the industrial sector promotes the development of Green Technologies (GT) and Green Growth (GG) in Developed Countries (DC) and Emerging Countries (EC). The survey sample consisted of 8659 observations from DC industrial companies and 1958 observations from EC companies, from data collected from Thomson Reuters and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Structural Equation Modeling was used for variable relationship analysis. The results pointed out that, in DC, GI practices impacts positively the GT of the countries, but this does not occur with the GG, which are negatively affected by the adoption of GI practices by the companies. On the other hand, in EC, only environmental investments positively affected the development of GT in these countries. And in relation to the GG, the GI practices of Environmental Management and Environmental Policies positively influenced this growth. The survey results contribute to discussions on regional differences in the benefits of green innovation by companies in promoting sustainable development. In addition, it can contribute with possible paths for companies and governments in setting goals to achieve SDG-8, SDG-9 and SDG-10.

Keywords: green innovation; green technology; green growth; SDG.