Research

International, environmental, development and innovation economics

What drives sustainable development in a globalized world? I study how industrial policy, global value chains and foreign direct investment shape green innovation, corporate social responsibility and firms’ environmental performance.

My empirical work draws on rich firm-level datasets from India, China and European economies. I link detailed information on firms’ production, ownership and international activities to measures of innovation, emissions, pollution abatement and social responsibility. This allows me to examine how firms respond differently to economic incentives, policy interventions and their position in global production networks.

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management · 2026 · 138, 103324

Upstreamness, Foreign Environmental Regulation and CO₂ Emissions in Indian Manufacturing Firms

F. O. Semrau

Short summary: Upstreamness, Foreign Environmental Regulation and CO₂ Emissions in Indian Manufacturing Firms

Indian manufacturers further upstream emit more CO₂, both in absolute terms and relative to output. This relationship weakens in industries more exposed to stringent environmental regulation in export markets.

Journal of Development Economics · 2024 · 167, 103236

Corporate Social Responsibility along the Global Value Chain

P. Herkenhoff, S. Krautheim, F. O. Semrau and F. Steglich

Short summary: Corporate Social Responsibility along the Global Value Chain

A model of sequential production predicts greater corporate social responsibility closer to final consumers. Indian firm-level data support this prediction: downstream firms spend more on staff welfare and local communities.

Research presentation

Further Peer-Reviewed Publications

Journal of International Business Policy · 2026 · 9, 82–101

Green Gifts from Abroad? FDI and Firms’ Green Management

P. Kannen, F. O. Semrau and F. Steglich

Short summary: Green Gifts from Abroad? FDI and Firms’ Green Management

Across 31 countries, foreign ownership is associated with greater adoption of green management practices. The relationship depends on host-country income and the environmental performance of the countries supplying its FDI.

Journal of International Development · 2026 · 38(1), 88–111

Climbing the Coffee Global Value Chain—Three Decades of Trade and Upgrading

A. Hanley, W.-H. Liu, F. O. Semrau and D. Görlich

Short summary: Climbing the Coffee Global Value Chain—Three Decades of Trade and Upgrading

Trade data for 1991–2018 document uneven progress from raw coffee exports to processing. Industrial capacity, proximity to processing hubs, coffee varieties and trade policy are associated with different upgrading paths.

Journal of Environmental Planning and Management · 2026 · 69(1), 1–27

It’s Not a Sprint, It’s a Marathon: Reviewing Governmental R&D Support for Environmental Innovation

L. P. Meissner, S. Peterson and F. O. Semrau

Short summary: It’s Not a Sprint, It’s a Marathon: Reviewing Governmental R&D Support for Environmental Innovation

The review finds that emissions pricing alone is insufficient to stimulate environmental innovation. Theory and evidence support complementing it with public R&D funding to advance clean technologies and reduce emissions.

Technological Forecasting & Social Change · 2025 · 213, 123985

Connecting the Unconnected? Social Ties and ICT Adoption among Smallholder Farmers in Developing Countries

L. Kleemann and F. O. Semrau

Short summary: Connecting the Unconnected? Social Ties and ICT Adoption among Smallholder Farmers in Developing Countries

Household data from 12 developing countries link weaker social connections to lower uptake of digital technologies and poorer access to agricultural advice. Digitalisation can therefore reinforce existing information inequalities among smallholder farmers.

Industry & Innovation · 2022 · 29(5), 672–700

Stepping Up to the Mark? Firms’ Export Activity and Environmental Innovation in 14 European Countries

A. Hanley and F. O. Semrau

Short summary: Stepping Up to the Mark? Firms’ Export Activity and Environmental Innovation in 14 European Countries

Exporting is associated with greener production processes, particularly in Eastern European firms. Across the sample, exposure to export markets with stringent market-based environmental policies is linked to greater adoption of environmental innovations.

Journal of International Development · 2017 · 29(3), 287–307

Brazil’s Development Cooperation: Following in China’s and India’s Footsteps?

F. O. Semrau and R. Thiele

Short summary: Brazil’s Development Cooperation: Following in China’s and India’s Footsteps?

Brazil’s development cooperation is shaped mainly by historical and cultural links, with some attention to recipient need and governance. The findings challenge the idea that emerging donors allocate aid solely to advance their own interests.

Other Academic Publications

Firms’ Global Value Chain Participation and Its Environmental Performance: A Review of the Empirical Literature

F. O. Semrau · 2023

In F. J. Díaz López, M. Mazzanti and R. Zoboli (eds.), Handbook on Innovation, Society and the Environment. Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 125–139.

Work in Progress

Unveiling the Green Trail: FDI, Global Value Chains and Firm Pollution in China

With Holger Görg, Lars Hecker and Zheng Wang

Under review

How foreign ownership and firms’ positions in global value chains interact in shaping pollution abatement in Chinese manufacturing.

Tournament Industrial Policy: China’s Subnational Competition for Hydrogen Leadership

With Benno Schöl and Jian Zhang

How subnational governments in China compete for hydrogen leadership and how their policy choices affect technological innovation.

Green Public Financial Support and Policy Mixes: Firm-Level Evidence on Environmental Innovation Adoption

Single-authored

How green public financial support interacts with regulation and market incentives in firms’ adoption of environmental innovations.

Disentangling the Effects of Domestic Customer Collaboration on Exports: The Information and Innovation Effects

With Dirk Dohse, Aoife Hanley and Christina Raasch

Whether collaboration with domestic customers helps firms export through better market information and innovation.

Conference & Workshop Presentations

Selected Conferences

  • World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists (WCERE)
    2026, Lisbon, Portugal

  • DRUID Conference
    2026 and 2019 (poster), Copenhagen, Denmark

  • GDE Conference and 1st Conference of the EDEG
    2026, Kiel, Germany

  • Geography of Innovation Conference (GeoInno)
    2026, Budapest, Hungary

  • Kiel–Göttingen–CEPR Conference on China in the Global Economy
    2025, Berlin, Germany

  • European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE) Annual Conference
    2024 (Leuven, Belgium) , 2021 (online) and 2019 (Manchester, United Kingdom)

  • European Trade Study Group (ETSG) Annual Conference
    2024 (Athen, Greece) and 2019 (Bern, Switzerland)

  • Verein für Socialpolitik Annual Meeting
    2022 (Basel, Switzerland) and 2019 (Leipzig, Germany)

  • Research Conference “Sustainability in Global Value Chains”, co-organised by UNIDO
    2021, online

  • Economic Geography and International Trade Research Meeting
    2020, Kiel, Germany

  • PEGNet Conference
    2019, Bonn, Germany

Selected Workshops

  • “Economics of Low-Carbon Markets” workshop, University of Oldenburg
    2026, Oldenburg, Germany

  • Symposium “Europe’s Industrial Policy Options in the Digital, Green and Geoeconomic Transitions”, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation
    2026, Hannover, Germany

  • Aarhus–Kiel Workshop
    2025, 2024, 2018 and 2017, Sonderburg, Denmark

  • Society on Environmental Innovations Workshop
    2024, Ferrara, Italy

  • Kiel Institute Workshop “The Role of Public Research and Innovation Measures on Mitigating Climate Change”
    2023, Kiel, Germany

  • Göttinger Workshop “Internationale Wirtschaftsbeziehungen”
    2022, 2020 and 2019, Göttingen, Germany

  • SEEDS Annual Workshop
    2020, online

  • Centre for Research in Circular Economy, Innovation and SMEs Workshop
    2019, Ferrara, Italy

  • INFER Workshop on Environment and Development Economics
    2019, Coimbra, Portugal

Policy publications and public commentary are listed under Policy & Media.