Climate-friendly technologies in the mobile air-conditioning sector: a patent citation analysis

The development of climate-friendly technologies and its diffusion across countries is of key importance to slow climate change. This paper considers technologies in the mobile air-conditioning (MAC) sector which is a major contributor of fluorinated greenhouse gas emissions. Using patents as an ind...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental economics and policy studies 2013-10, Vol.15 (4), p.389-422
Main Authors: Rave, Tilmann, Goetzke, Frank
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air conditioning
Carbon dioxide
Citation analysis
Clean technology
Climate change
Economic models
Economic statistics
Economic theory
Economics
Economics and Finance
Emission standards
Emissions
Emissions control
Energy efficiency
Environmental Economics
Environmental impact
Environmental policy
Environmental regulations
Global warming
Greenhouse effect
Greenhouse gases
Innovations
International
Inventors
Knowledge
Prices
R&D
Research & development
Research Article
Social Policy
Studies
Technological change
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Summary:The development of climate-friendly technologies and its diffusion across countries is of key importance to slow climate change. This paper considers technologies in the mobile air-conditioning (MAC) sector which is a major contributor of fluorinated greenhouse gas emissions. Using patents as an indicator of innovations and patent citations as a proxy for knowledge flows, the inducement of new environmental and non-environmental technologies and knowledge diffusion within and across countries are analysed. The focus is on direct abatement of fluorinated greenhouse gases excluding energy efficiency improvements. We find that most environmental MAC patents originate from the US and Germany. Most knowledge flows take place within countries. Regarding cross-country flows most environmental knowledge diffuses from French and German patents, which is likely to be a result of regulatory activities in Europe and intensified research on environmentally benign MAC systems. Yet, this exchange of knowledge is not very intensive and stable so that the impact of EU regulations on US and Japanese patenting behaviour seems to be fairly weak.
ISSN:1432-847X
1867-383X
DOI:10.1007/s10018-013-0069-3