TY - JOUR
T1 - Beyond the North-South divide
T2 - The political economy and multi-level governance of international low-carbon technology transfer in China
AU - Liu, Minsi
AU - Lo, Kevin
AU - Westman, Linda
AU - Huang, Ping
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Early Career Scheme ( 22604217 ) of the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/9
Y1 - 2022/9
N2 - The rapid rise of emerging economies challenges the conventional understanding of international low-carbon technology transfer (ILTT) from a North-South perspective. Rather than acting like passive recipients of foreign investment and technology, actors in emerging economies have become more assertive, seeking control over the processes of ILTT. To understand this emerging trend, this paper conceptualizes ILTT as political-economic and multi-level governance processes involving two key elements—partnership building and technology adaptation. The empirical findings, drawing from a case study on the transfer of the passive house concept from Germany to China, show that the priorities of domestic rather than foreign actors have defined the scope for collaboration and the purpose of the technology, resulting in the adoption of a version of the technology that best serves domestic political-economic interests. These findings suggest that ILTT is becoming increasingly complex geographically, which opens new perspectives into the spatial dimension of socio-technical transitions.
AB - The rapid rise of emerging economies challenges the conventional understanding of international low-carbon technology transfer (ILTT) from a North-South perspective. Rather than acting like passive recipients of foreign investment and technology, actors in emerging economies have become more assertive, seeking control over the processes of ILTT. To understand this emerging trend, this paper conceptualizes ILTT as political-economic and multi-level governance processes involving two key elements—partnership building and technology adaptation. The empirical findings, drawing from a case study on the transfer of the passive house concept from Germany to China, show that the priorities of domestic rather than foreign actors have defined the scope for collaboration and the purpose of the technology, resulting in the adoption of a version of the technology that best serves domestic political-economic interests. These findings suggest that ILTT is becoming increasingly complex geographically, which opens new perspectives into the spatial dimension of socio-technical transitions.
KW - China
KW - International low-carbon technology transfer
KW - Multi-level governance
KW - Partnership building
KW - Political economy
KW - Technology adaptation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85134630477&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.eist.2022.07.001
DO - 10.1016/j.eist.2022.07.001
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85134630477
SN - 2210-4224
VL - 44
SP - 194
EP - 204
JO - Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions
JF - Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions
ER -