Contributions of Green R&D to Environmental Pollution Reduction in Developing Countries: Evidence from Iran

Global warming and climate change have been of great concern in recent decades. Given such concerns and the objectives of economic growth, the environmental impacts of economic activities have become challenging. Despite the high importance of research and development (R&D), their contributions to reducing environmental pollution have rarely been studied in the environmental economics literature. The present study sought to explore the effects of green R&D on environmental pollution reduction to fill this research gap. It was primarily hypothesized that green R&D could improve environmental quality and reduce environmental pollution; however, observing such contributions in different countries at different development levels would require further case studies. This study reviewed relevant theoretical foundations and extracted a conceptual model using structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS. Then the effects of green R&D on environmental pollution in Iran were estimated. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. To this end, 269 green R&D activists participated in the study. The findings revealed that green R&D with five major components (i.e., green intellectual capital, green ideas, green design, green investment, and rules and standards) had a significant effect on reducing environmental pollution at a confidence level of 99%. Accordingly, it can be concluded that the development of green R&D may be associated with desirable economic and environmental outcomes.