The impact of university energy research and development on CO ₂ emissions

The primary objective of this study is to examine the impact of university energy R&D on CO2 emissions using an instrumental-variable approach. A secondary objective is to also examine whether and how energy R&D in the business sector and energy R&D carried out by government organizations affect CO2 emissions. Utilizing an unbalanced panel dataset covering up to 21 countries with sporadically available data from 1990 to 2015, we find that increases in expenditures for energy R&D in the university sector result in statistically and environmentally significant reductions in CO2 emissions. While our results provide evidence of a significant negative causal effect of university energy R&D on CO2 emissions, they are, however, unable to identify the causal effects of energy R&D in the business sector and energy R&D in the government sector on CO2 emissions.