Environmental Spillovers Reconsidered: When Green Innovation Diffusion Backfires

While Aldieri & Vinci (2017) find differentiated impacts of environmental spillovers, the prevailing narrative is that green R&D diffusion is a win-win for productivity and sustainability. This research, using both quantitative data (e.g., patent and productivity metrics) and case studies, would identify instances where adoption of environmental innovations imposes adjustment costs, disrupts existing competencies, or triggers unintended negative externalities—particularly in less advanced or resource-constrained firms or regions (as hinted in Deng et al., 2024 for agriculture). The novelty lies in problematizing the “goodness” of environmental spillovers, seeking to inform more targeted and context-sensitive approaches to green innovation policy.

References:

1. Innovation, Productivity and Environmental Performance of Technology Spillovers Effects: Evidence from European Patents within the Triad. L. Aldieri, C. P. Vinci (2017).
2. Research and development expenditures, technology spillovers, and green productivity in agriculture: an empirical analysis. H. Deng, Boqun Lyu, Zhiyang Shen, Michael Vardanyan (2024). Post-Communist Economies.