Measuring Science and Innovation for Sustainable Growth

Foreword

The OECD “Measuring” monographs on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) are internationally recognised vehicles for communicating analysis of key and novel aspects of science and innovation. They address gaps in the provision and use of STI indicators and serve as reference documents to drive the measurement and analysis agenda for better, evidence-based policies, both at OECD and across its members and partners. Past “Measuring” publications have informed the OECD Innovation Strategy and the Organisation’s monitoring and recommendations on digital transformation, contributing to mainstreaming these policies across government and providing new foundations for measurement and analysis.

Following this model, this “Measuring” publication aims to articulate measurement concepts and provide new statistical insights on the multidimensional contribution of STI to sustainable growth in the context of key energy and green transitions. This goal is also supported by the Declaration on Transformative Science, Technology and Innovation Policies for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future, which was adopted at the meeting of the OECD Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy (CSTP) at the ministerial level in April 2024. One of this declaration’s four pillars focused on “Strengthening the evidence base for STI strategies and policy making”, specifically calling on the “OECD, through the CSTP and in collaboration with other relevant OECD committees” to “provide international statistics, data resources and new evidence on STI systems and policies and their impacts, notably regarding the Sustainable Development Goals and the just and green transitions.” The publication is the result of a project approved by the OECD Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy (CSTP) and included in its Programme of Work and Budget (PWB) 2023-2024.

This report, informed by preparatory work and engagement across OECD bodies and with the International Energy Agency, aims to serve as a reference document for policymakers, statisticians, researchers and the wider public, bringing together a diverse range of data sources and outputs to give a comprehensive and international overview of the channels through which science and innovation systems contribute to sustainable growth. The additional overarching aim is to provide a measurement blueprint to lay the ground for a forward-looking international agenda for continuous improvement in the quality of measurement of sustainability-relevant science and innovation.

Three objectives underpin the overarching aims:

• Map and render operational concepts and definitions of “green” science and innovation.

• Provide a comprehensive and interconnected (statistical and data-based) view of the STI system’s role as an enabler of the green transition, drawing on available indicators.

• Identify knowledge gaps and limitations of existing indicators, showcase experiences demonstrating the feasibility of measurement, and introduce new measurement experiments

Acknowledgements

The report is the result of collective effort coordinated by the Secretariat to the OECD Working Party of National Experts on Science and Technology Indicators (NESTI) at the Science and Technology Policy Division (STP) in the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology, and Innovation (DSTI), with Petra Kelly and Fernando Galindo-Rueda as project managers under the guidance of Alessandra Colecchia as Head of the STP division.

This work would not have been possible without the substantive contributions of several DSTI colleagues, including Leonidas Aristodemou, Silvia Appelt, Kaijie Ou Huang, Guillaume Kpodar, Lorine Labrue, Adrian Leung, Kuniko Matsumoto, Daniel Sánchez-Serra, Blandine Serve, Brigitte Van Beuzekom and Fabien Verger in the STP division; Marius Berger, Antoine Dechezleprêtre, Hélène Dernis, Antton Haramboure, Nuala Mulligan and Alžběta Vítková from the Productivity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship division; Brigitte Acoca and Jan Tscheke from the Digital and green consumers unit; and Lenka Wildnerová in the Steel unit.

Outside DSTI, the publication coordinators would like to acknowledge the contributions by Alberto Agnelli (ENV/EEI), Olof Bystrom (ENV/EEI), Damien Dussaux (ENV/EEI), Katherine Hassett (ENV/EEI), Rose Mba Mébiame (ENV/EEI), Mauro Migotto (ENV/EPI) in the Environment Directorate; Tobias Kruse in the Economics Department, Carlo Menon from the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, Carlos Hinojosa from the Evaluation and Internal Audit (EVIA) unit and Stefano Contratto from the Directorate for Communications. EVIA and the Directorate for Communications kindly facilitated access to Overton data.

In addition to OECD sources, the report relies on valuable contributions and comments from the International Energy Agency kindly provided by Oskaras Alsauskas, Simon Bennett, Elisabeth Connelly, Amrita Dasgupta, Shobhan Dhir, Roberta Quadrelli, Mathilde Huismans, Suzy Leprince, Teo Lombardo and Apostolos Petropoulos. Other organisations and individuals who have contributed to this report include the Joint Research Centre, the International Renewable Energy Agency, the International Monetary Fund, Our World In Data, Overton, Eurostat, the BBVA Foundation, the Fraunhofer Institute and Matěj Bajgar (Charles University).

The coordinators would also like to thank DSTI Director Jerry Sheehan and Deputy Director Jens Lundsgaard and their team, especially Alice Holt, Takako Kitahara and Martina Fattiboni Ferrara, for valuable comments and assistance in conducting consultations, as well as Sylvain Fraccola, Delphine Kadysz, Joe Loux, Sebastian Ordelheide, and Kyriakos Vogiatzis, who provided invaluable for communications and administrative guidance and support. The work has also benefited from STI policy- oriented comments by several STP colleagues, including Mario Cervantes, Charles McIvor, Michael Keenan, Philippe Larrue and Carthage Smith and from editorial review by Julie Harris.

The study was conducted as part of the Programme of Work and Budget 2023-24 of the Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy (CSTP), under the auspices of the Working Party of National Experts on Science and Technology Indicators (NESTI) and its multiple informal networks, including the R&D statistic experts network, which furnishes data on R&D by socio-economic objectives and provided several examples of cross-cutting energy and environmental R&D and the Innovation survey co-ordination group, which drove the collection of data on Innovation with Environmental Benefits. The report coordinators would also like to thank the members of NESTI’s Expert Group on Management and Analysis of Research and Innovation Administrative Data (MARIAD), who directly oversee the Fundstat work mapping R&D project funding and its potential relevance and impact.

Earlier versions of this report were presented for discussion at the 2024 NESTI official meeting. Selected results were also presented in the internal brown bag seminar on “Measuring Science and Innovation for Sustainable Growth” in March 2025, at the CSTP official meeting in April 2025 and at the official meeting of Working Party on Innovation and Technology Policy (TIP) in June 2025. The coordinators would like to express their gratitude to NESTI, CSTP and TIP delegates for their feedback.

Lastly, the coordinators would like to thank the ministers and senior officials participating in the breakout session, which took place as part of the OECD Science and Technology Policy Ministerial meeting, whose background paper provided the initial basis and motivation for Chapter 4.

Reader’s guide

Acronyms

Executive summary

The transformational power of science, technology and innovation (STI) is necessary to extend economic wellbeing while addressing major global environmental challenges such as climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. To harness and direct this power effectively, however, policymakers require fit-for-purpose measures that capture the multifaceted contribution of science and innovation, the role played by different actors and the impact of relevant policies. Measuring Science and Innovation for Sustainable Growth provides new and comprehensive evidence on the role of science and innovation for resource and environmental sustainability. It draws on existing statistics and newly developed databases, indicators and analysis to map key trends and structural issues, comparing the capabilities of countries in this important domain to inform decision making. The following insights emerge from the gathered evidence:

Environmental innovation is transforming markets and making low-carbon energy and transport more affordable faster than previously thought possible.

• Cost reductions enabled by technological innovation have accelerated the uptake of new technologies across key sectors. In 2023, for instance, electricity from large-scale solar PV was 56% cheaper than from fossil fuels—having been over four times more expensive in 2010. The global electric car fleet reached nearly 58 million by the end of 2024, more than triple its size in 2021.

• In the median OECD country, over 40% of innovative firms introduced at least one environmentally beneficial innovation in the previous three years.

• Environmental technology startups have attracted 17% of total venture capital (VC) funding, and account for a growing share of national startup populations in three out of four surveyed countries.

Science underpins energy and environmental innovation through critical, often underappreciated, channels.

• New indicators show that nearly 28% of scientific publications are relevant to energy and environmental societal goals.

• International collaboration is significantly more prevalent in energy and environmental science than in other fields.

• Climate change mitigation and adaptation patent filings build more directly on scientific knowledge than high-carbon ones, citing nearly six times as many peer-reviewed articles. Key cited disciplines include engineering, chemistry, and materials science, with computer science also playing a greater role in low-carbon than in high-carbon patents.

• Start-ups in energy and sustainability are the second most likely to be founded by PhD holders (16%) - underscoring science’s role in entrepreneurial activity.

OECD countries no longer lead on science and innovation addressing energy and environmental goals.

• China is now the world’s largest contributor to scientific publications in energy journals and accounts for 40% of the 10% most cited environment- and energy-related publications.

• China’s high-quality patent filings in environmental technologies grew more than sixfold between 2010 and 2020, while growth in the United States and the EU remained below 20%. Nearly a quarter of China’s international patent filings now relate to environmental outcomes, compared to just 10% in the United States.

• The share of venture capital channeled into environment-related start-ups grew by 25 percentage points in China between 2010 and 2022, compared to just 6 percentage points in the EU and stagnation in the wider OECD.

• China also dominates clean technology manufacturing and leads in exports of environmental goods, having gone from laggard to leader over three decades.

Public support for energy and environmental research and innovation has been sluggish for decades but has been picking up recently.

• Technology-specific support for low-carbon innovation declined across the OECD between 2012 and 2019, even as environmental policy stringency increased.

• Between the early 1980s and 2006, government budgets for R&D dedicated to energy and the environment have remained largely flat in real terms. Relevant R&D budgets in the OECD area grew by 29% in 2023 and stood at 7% on average that year. Less than 5% is dedicated to low-carbon energy research, development and demonstration (RD&D).

• Recovery spending channeled into innovation with environmental objectives post-COVID was heavily weighted toward technology deployment, with just 6.5% allocated to RD&D.

• Analysis of R&D funding portfolios for governmental funding bodies shows that energy and environmental goals accounted for approximately 20% of funding in 2023, representing nearly USD 40 billion.

Directed R&D support appears more effective in supporting environment-related innovation than neutral instruments.

• New analysis shows that direct public funding for business R&D is positively associated with the uptake of innovations with environmental benefits, particularly those that reduce CO₂ emissions, pollution, or resource intensity. Environment-related patenting is also more common among firms receiving direct support.

• R&D tax incentives, by contrast, show no clear effect in EU countries on environmental outcomes or the composition of private R&D. Firms cite market demand, reputation, regulations, and cost pressures as key motivators for pursuing environmental innovation.

Public opinion supports science and innovation for the green transition.

• Environmental concerns remain high on the public agenda, especially in the EU, even as safety and economic concerns loom large. The percentage of respondents who agree or strongly agree that environmental issues will be resolved primarily through technological progress is the highest in Israel (62%), followed by Sweden (48%) and United States (47%).

• Trust in climate scientists is strong across the world and there is support for climate action - in particular in the form of low-carbon technology subsidies.

• Carbon taxes are more acceptable when linked to clean technology investments, indicating public appetite for coherent, science-informed policy solutions.

Focused, concerted action is needed to generate evidence on science and innovation’s contribution to environmental goals and to better inform policy.

• Major evidence gaps hamper decision making at the intersection of science, innovation, and sustainable growth. Governments can respond by adopting a three-pillar measurement agenda:

• Pillar 1: Build the foundations Leverage diverse data sources and methods with multi-purpose planning; align measurement efforts toward environmental science and innovation; and foster shared ownership and partnerships for effective data use.

• Pillar 2: Address evidence gaps Capture the broad contributions of upstream research; track green technology adoption and the reach of environmental innovation beyond business; monitor public support beyond R&D; assess systemic STI roles in the economy and environment; and account for STI’s own environmental footprint.

• Pillar 3: Measure impacts Develop systems of indicators tailored to policy needs and embed evaluation in the design and implementation of innovation policy.

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