Impacts of supply-sided and demand-sided policies on innovation in green building technologies: A case study of China

It is universal that the government widely adopts policy incentives to promote green building innovation. Comprehensively evaluating the effect of green building innovation policies is of great significance to green buildings' development. But there seem to be no studies developing quantitative models to explain the effects of different types of policies on green building innovation. This research sorts out the Chinese provincial green building policies and divides these policies into supply-sided and demand-sided to fill this gap. The difference-in-differences method is constructed to explore the innovative effects of different policies using China's provincial panel data from 2010 to 2018. This study found that: (1) supply-sided policies can promote the innovation and development of green building technology; (2) demand-sided policies have not significantly stimulated innovation; and (3) infrastructure fee and priority in building award boost technology innovation hugely. This study verifies the difference in the impact of supply-sided and demand-sided green building policies on technological innovation and points out the two most significant supply-sided policies with the best incentive effects. These findings can help the government choose effective incentive policies and promote green buildings and sustainability in the construction industry. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The research analyzes green building policies at the provincial level in China and found that supply-sided policies promote technological innovation and development, while demand-sided policies do not have a significant stimulating effect. Infrastructure fees and prioritized building awards greatly boost technological innovation.