With the rapid development of industry, production, transport, various technologies, the growth of public consumption, and the population, the emissions of harmful substances into the environment and the greenhouse effect are steadily increasing. Various pollutants can have an irreversible effect on the ecosystem and the economy, threatening global warming. The European Commission has committed itself to achieve climate neutrality in the European Union. To this end, a Green Deal has been set up, which focuses not only on the sensitive issue of reducing air pollution but also on sustainability and the efficient use of resources in a competitive economy, accelerating the transition to a circular economy, which would fundamentally change corporate investment strategies, and a stronger focus on the deployment of innovative technologies, with a particular focus on increasing investment in cleaner technologies.
Tightening environmental requirements can lead to significant financial challenges for high-emission industrial sectors, which will require motivational tools to move towards a low-emission economy. In this context, it is important to stimulate the growth of abatement investments, but it is still not clear what actually stimulates and determines the growth of pollution-reducing investments. Identifying the key drivers of growth in investment in cleaner technologies and examining investment trends themselves can help improve government and regional policies in this area and make a significant contribution to achieving environmental performance goals. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess investments in cleaner technologies and their determinants at the macroeconomic level. The aim of the research is to identify the essential factors of investment in cleaner technologies after the analysis of investments in cleaner technologies and the factors determining them.
Project funding:
Project is funded by EU Structural Funds according to the 2014–2020 Operational Programme for the European Union Funds’ Investments priority “Development of scientific competence of researchers, other researchers, students through practical scientific activities” under Measure No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712.
Project results:
The assessment of investment in cleaner technologies and their determinants at the macroeconomic level has shown that the main macro-level factors influencing the growth of investment in cleaner technologies are environmental taxes, electricity price uncertainty, energy consumption, state support, and public education. However, the influence of these factors is different in different countries, due to different trends in investment and its determinants, and different countries’ characteristics.
Period of project implementation: 2021-07-05 - 2021-08-31
Project coordinator: Kaunas University of Technology
