Measuring green industrial performance: a regional outlook of Eastern Asia and Europe

Abstract

Is it possible to measure the green performance of the manufacturing sector? Which world regions are doing better in terms of green industrialization? This paper develops a novel methodology to respond to these questions by improving the green industrial performance (GIP) index through the refinement and expansion of the green product list that lies at its core. The paper constructs a new database using international comparable data sources such as the UNIDO's industrial statistics database and the UN COMTRADE, to compute the GIP index and rank 116 economies in terms of their ability to produce and export green industrial products. The paper shows that industrialized economies outperformed other economies with Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Czechia and Austria topping the GIP ranking of industrial green performance in 2019. Then it estimates and compares the relative green industrial performance of eight country groupings to conclude that Northern America, Europe and Eastern Asia perform significantly better than the other country groupings. Our analysis of Europe and Eastern Asia serves to display significant differences in green industrial performance of economies even within these two leading country groupings. Finally, the paper puts forward recommendations for future research and measurement of the green performance of the manufacturing sector of the world’s economies and regions.

The Political Economy of Green Stimulus Spending: Evidence from the Global Financial Crisis and the Covid-19 Crisis

“…These data are drawn from the Global Fossil Fuels Registry (2023). To capture the centrality of green industries, we use the Green Industrial Performance (GIP) Index developed by Moll de Alba and Todorov (2022). The GIP index is constructed by ranking countries on six factors that jointly capture their amounts of green exports, green domestic production, and green employment.…”