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Research Seminar: Did the 2022 Global Energy Crisis Accelerate the Diffusion of Low-Carbon Technologies?
September 25, 2024 — 10:30 am – 11:45 pm
The Growth Lab’s Research Seminar series is a weekly seminar that brings together researchers from across the academic spectrum who share an interest in growth and development.
Speaker: Jacob Greenspon, Ph.D. Candidate in the University of Oxford
Coauthored with Paulo Bastos, Katherine Stapleton, and Daria Taglioni (World Bank)
Location: Democracy Lab R-414 AB / Zoom
Whether attending in person or online please register in advance.
Speaker Bio: Jacob is a doctoral student in Economics at the University of Oxford and Research Coordinator at the Harvard Kennedy School Reimagining the Economy Project. He has consulted on energy transition research at Resources for the Future, the World Bank, and the Institute for Research on Public Policy and worked as an economist for several think tanks and governments in the US and Canada.
Paper Abstract: This paper develops measures of the diffusion of a comprehensive range of low-carbon technologies in 35 countries from 2019 to 2022 using text analysis of job postings and earnings calls transcripts. It documents a rapid acceleration in the diffusion of low-carbon technologies in 2022–with hiring in related roles doubling from 2019–that is driven by technologies related to renewable energy, vehicles, thermal performance, and electrical generation and storage. Rapid growth occurred in three quarters of the countries studied and 228 of 300 subnational regions, although was fastest in Europe. It studies the role of the global energy crisis in triggering this accelerated technology diffusion, focusing on 16 advanced economies. It finds that establishments in countries that had a higher pre-crisis dependence on imports of natural gas, and were thus more exposed to the price shock, differentially increased hiring for low-carbon technology related roles from March 2022 onwards. Within more exposed countries, establishments with a higher pre-crisis energy intensity also saw a differential increase in hiring relative to less energy intensive ones.