Climate‐Mitigation Technology Diffusions and Environmental Sustainability: The Strategic Roles of Digital Services, Innovation, and Regulation in the United States

Abstract

Climate‐mitigation technology diffusion (CMTD) supports the development and dissemination of technologies that improve production efficiency, reduce environmental waste, and promote resource sustainability. This study investigates how CMTD is associated with digital services, patent technologies, copper production, regulatory quality, and financial globalization in the United States. Using quarterly data from 1996 to 2022, the analysis applies wavelet quantile correlation and nonparametric quantile‐causality techniques. The findings show that digital services are positively associated with CMTD and may improve technological coordination and transparency, although they also involve challenges related to energy use, e‐waste, and implementation costs. CMTD is predominantly negatively associated with copper production across different quantiles and time horizons. Patent technologies are positively associated with CMTD, particularly at higher quantiles, indicating stronger dependence under favorable innovation conditions. Regulatory quality is negatively associated with CMTD across several quantiles and time horizons; however, this finding represents an inverse statistical relationship rather than a direct structural effect. Financial globalization is mainly positively associated with CMTD by facilitating access to international capital, technological knowledge, and global financial networks. The findings highlight that successful CMTD depends on coordinated technological, institutional, and financial policies whose effectiveness varies across different diffusion regimes and time horizons, providing evidence for more targeted and adaptive environmental policy design.