Mobilizing private finance for low-carbon innovation – A systematic review of barriers and solutions

By F. Polzin. 2017

272 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This paper analyses the field of innovation studies regarding barriers to low-carbon innovation and consequences for finance (investment and divestment) and contributes to a more holistic understanding of the underlying mechanisms. A combination of technological barriers combined with economic barriers, institutional and political barriers contribute to sub-optimal low-carbon investment all along the innovation cycle. Policy makers need to take a systemic approach to enable the redirection of diverse private financial sources. Instruments range from cutting ‘dirty’ (R&D) subsidies and support for clean technology innovation and diffusion, levelling the institutional playing field and making risks of high-carbon and low-carbon technologies transparent to providing a consistent but adaptive long-term transition strategy. This would allow financiers to gradually shift their investments away from high-carbon mainstream markets and scale low-carbon technology niche-markets. However financiers also need to sharpen their competencies with regard to new clean technologies and markets.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ee3e60df403c19a0bcf95b0349e54dcfab20570e

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Economics and Econometrics

1. Bjarne Steffen
2. F. Egli
3. Tobias S. Schmidt
4. A. Geddes
5. F. Polzin
6. Hugues Chenet
7. P. Drummond
8. Nadia Ameli

In Sociology and Political Science

1. Bjarne Steffen
2. F. Egli
3. Tobias S. Schmidt
4. Pasquale Marcello Falcone
5. E. Sica
6. F. Polzin
7. Nadia Ameli

Citations in the corpus

• Climate finance and disclosure for institutional investors: why transparency is not enough (2019, background): “…lack of supportive policy frameworks, incentives and market-based instruments are the main barriers to attract private capitals for the low-carbon transition (Polzin 2017; Granoff et al. 2016; Fabian 2015; Jones 2015; Nelson and Pierpont 2013; Kaminker and Stewart 2012; Della Croce et al. 2011).”
• Assessing the Opportunities and Challenges of Green Finance in Italy: An Analysis of the Biomass Production Sector (2019, background): “In this context, increasing the involvement of banks, financial regulators and grassroots organizations in integrating environmental and social elements within the dominant financial system is crucial for transitioning to a low carbon economy [11].”
• The multiple roles of state investment banks in low-carbon energy finance: An analysis of Australia, the UK and Germany (2018, background): “Barriers to sourcing finance faced by developers differ by technology type, project size and context conditions (CPI, 2013; Hall et al., 2015; Kann, 2009; Polzin, 2017; Richards et al., 2012).”
• How do policies mobilize private finance for renewable energy?—A systematic review with an investor perspective (2019, methodology): “Articles were then systematically analysed and the meta-data extracted [61,66].”