Assessing the Green R&D Investment and Patent Generation in Pakistan towards CO2 Emissions Reduction with a Novel Decomposition Framework

• Published in: Sustainability 2022-06, Vol.14 (11), p.6435
• Main Authors: Raza, Muhammad Yousaf, Chen, Yingchao, Tang, Songlin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon dioxide; Climate change; Economic development; Economic growth; Emissions; Energy; Energy consumption; Energy policy; Energy technology; Energy utilization; Environmental policy; Environmental regulations; Fossil fuels; Innovations; Patent applications; R&D; Renewable energy technologies; Research & development; Sustainability; Technology transfer
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su14116435

Energy plays an imperative role in global economies, such that products and services are generally dependent on energy use. This study leads to the application of environmental policies under green research and development (R&D) investment in Pakistan. Existing research has tried to analyze the effects of R&D investment associated with patent applications using the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method called PATENT. The objective of this method is to examine the variations in R&D activities motivated by the reduction of fossil fuel power. The research contributes the following: (1) the R&D reaction is the main factor in raising the number of patent applications, while R&D efficiency needs more enhancements. (2) Reaction and production effects are imperative in raising the number of patent applications during the study period. (3) R&D expenditure presents a significant rise in renewable energy technologies (RETs), by 6.7% yearly, which ultimately impacts the economy, sustainability, and the environment. (4) Energy intensity shows a lowering trend in economic development, which confirms that that share of energy will decline, and that Pakistan will move towards significant contributions. Finally, the results show that raising R&D investments, technology transfer and engendered measures are the authentic approaches to Pakistan’s environmental and economic development. Based on the analyzed method, the study recommends that environmental regulation policies’ efficiency be incremented by investing and joining them with RETs. Furthermore, the concerned policies linked with the estimated outcomes are provided below.