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Factors affecting the adoption of energy efficiency in the manufacturing sector of developing countries

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Abstract

This paper analyzes the drivers for and barriers to the adoption of energy efficient technologies among a sample of firms based in Viet Nam, the Philippines, and Moldova. The current debate on the fight against climate change emphasizes the need to adopt environmentally friendly measures at the global level. We therefore need to better understand the obstacles to the adoption of energy saving measures, especially in developing countries. By applying discrete choice modeling techniques, we find that firms’ internal management and organizational factors rather than top-down or other external market conditions increase firms’ likelihood to invest in energy efficient technologies. Moreover, experience in the adoption of energy efficient technologies and the commitment of top management are also crucial in this regard.

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Notes

  1. See del Rio (2005) and del Rio et al. 2009, who analyze industries in Spain, de Groot et al. (2001), who focus on Dutch industries, Brunke et al. (2014), who cover the iron and steel industry in Sweden, or Borghesi et al. (2015) who analyze the manufacturing industry in Italy.

  2. We use 116 observations from the entire sample of 214 due to missing data.

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Acknowledgments

This research expands on background work carried out for the UNIDO Industrial Development Reports 2011 and 2016. The author is very grateful to Niki Rodousakis, UNIDO, for assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Policy Research and Statistics, UNIDO, Vienna, Austria

    Nicola Cantore

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  1. Nicola Cantore
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Correspondence to Nicola Cantore.

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Cantore, N. Factors affecting the adoption of energy efficiency in the manufacturing sector of developing countries. Energy Efficiency 10, 743–752 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-016-9474-3

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