Investigating the effects of environmental patents and climate change mitigation technologies on sustainable economic growth in the Middle East

Abstract

Sustainable economic growth and identifying factors affecting it are among the important issues which have always received attention from researchers of different countries. Accordingly, one of the factors affecting economic growth, which has received attention from researchers in the developed countries over recent years, is the issue of environmental technologies that enter the economic cycle of other countries after being patented through technology transfer. The current research investigated the role of the environment-related patents and the effects of the patented technological innovations compatible with climate change mitigation on the economic growth and development in the Middle East countries within a specific time period. The required data were gathered from the valid global databases, including Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and World Bank and have been analyzed using multi-linear regression methods and econometric models with Eviews 10 software. The obtained results with 95% confidence level show that the environmental patents (β = 0.02) and environment management (β = 0.04) and technologies related to the climate change mitigation (β = 0.02) have a significant positive impact on the sustainable economic development and growth rate in the studied countries. Such a study helps innovators and policymakers in policy decisions related to sustainable development programs from the perspective of environmentally friendly technologies by demonstrating the role of patents in three important environmental areas, namely environmental management, water-related adaptation and climate change mitigation, as one of the factors influencing sustainable economic growth.