Public and industrial policy for clean technology: A case study analysis

摘要

Clean technologies have been described as the technological embodiment of a preventive approach to pollution control and, as such, are often associated with a unique range of environmental and commercial benefits. This thesis assesses these claims in order to examine the link between environmental technology and economic growth. The thesis is divided into two parts. In Part I it is suggested that a combination of the tools of technology promotion and control offers an effective means of stimulating clean technology development. However, subsequent review of EC, UK and Danish provisions for the support of clean technology indicates that, whilst such a combination of policy instruments is in evidence, substantial obstacles to development remain. Most notably these obstacles derive from an apparent clash between the risk minimising tendencies of private enterprises and the supposedly radical nature of clean technology innovation. The results of seven detailed case studies of clean technology development, presented in Part II, complicate this picture somewhat. In particular, the category of 'clean technology' is found to embrace a much wider range of innovative activity than is implied by conventional definitions of the term. Furthermore, organisational priorities are identified as a major determinant of corporate responses in this area. In the light of this analysis, a 'radical shift in the socio-organisational structure' of private enterprises (e.g. in relation to R&D priorities, investment time horizons and staff development) is identified as the only effective means of optimising the benefit to society from the development of clean technology. Consequently, policy instruments designed to encourage, or enforce, the incorporation of environmental criteria into development decisions are identified as the best mechanisms by which to stimulate clean technology innovation. Given the low priority attached to such environmental considerations, even among the companies operating clean technologies, the results suggest that such a radical shift in organisational priorities has yet to occur. The major conclusion of the thesis is, therefore, that clean technologies will continue to be developed solely on an ad hoc basis, unless a systematic attempt is made to promote organisational cultures that prioritise environmental considerations at an early stage in the developmental process. Until such policies are fully implemented, clean technologies seem unlikely to make the contribution to sustainable development forecast in the Brundtland Report.