The Relationship Between Technological Novelty And Adaptation To Changes In Climatic Conditions

Available Options to Facilitate Invention Necessity to Solve the Problem of Climate Change

As the ongoing and past greenhouse gas emissions take their toll inevitably on the climate change, adaptation which is equivalent to implementing and finding of ways sound in adjusting to the adverse impacts of changes in climate is becoming an issue of urgency along with climatic change mitigations. While there are already implementations of actions focusing on climate change mitigation, the adaptation work is interested on the establishment of the needed crucial principles. Majority of the adaptation methods involves utilization of some technology forms which in wider perspective includes not just equipments or materials but also diverse knowledge forms. In fact several technologies have been tested and tried as part of the innovations targeting the impacts of climate change ranging from the remote satellite sensing to advanced material science.

This particular dissertation mainly pay attention to the relationship between technological novelty and change in climatic condition across the entire world – which is currently considered to be the most common and intimidating environmental problem affecting the world. The research work begins with a presentation of an overview of the problem resulting from climate change and the invention necessities that facilitate the study (Fuhr, Hickmann, and Kern 2018). The paper then presents a detailed examination of the available options to facilitate invention necessity to solve the problem of climate change. Despite the fact that most of the examples used within this paper are obtained from the past experiences and studies for the United States, the discussed concepts together with techniques can generally be applied to all countries affected by problems of climate change mitigation.

The influence posed by change in climatic conditions to the economic development still remains to be a topic of great discussion. Based on the perception of different individuals, change in climatic conditions is considered to be a means that favors economic development, while other group of individuals base their arguments that it will possibly reduce the rate of economic development or even complete termination in the economic growth. The argument should however consider the disparities within regional places, in that, Northern Hemisphere is usually considered to be colder regions and thus change in climatic conditions would positively contribute to the production, and the case is different for the tropical regions where a change in climatic condition is associated with negative influence to production thus reduced economic growth (Mensah et al.2018).

The effect of climatic change tends to be enormous following the increase in the emission of greenhouse gases. Nonetheless, adaptation techniques are of necessity in all the occasions. Choice made on the adaptations should consider the persistently varying climate due to a pair of reasons; first, future uncalled for problems may influence the use of technologies in place since the technique is developed to address challenges at the present. Also, the rate at which climatic condition changes necessitates a flexible adaptation under the newly implemented infrastructural development, economic organizations as well as technical systems. More particularly, the influence posed by changes in climatic conditions to agriculture changes based on the adopted systems of farming, which alter in sensitivity alongside exposure to the variations (Chen, Yin and Mei 2018).

Economic Development and Climate Change

The adaptation rate to changes in climatic conditions is determined by a number of factors including changes in market demands, public and private investment within the R&D, policy and institutions and cultural factors as well. The most essential factor is the level of coordination among the involved parties. For instance, reports have been given by scientists stating that change in climatic condition systematically influence both wine value chains and regional vineyards, thus demanding for a combined solution derived by the involved parties at the two levels. Therefore, the level of adaptation is determined by the type of sector alongside coordination and interaction among the actors, more specifically within the agricultural sector. In production processes facilitated by rain water, adaptation involves activities like use of varieties which are resistant to drought or by means of intercropping, and on the other hand, construction of insulation or alternative means of feeding are encouraged for livestock production (Hughes, Chu, and Mason 2020).

Up to the present, various innovation works have mainly focused on the attempts of innovation in generating both social and economic alterations, more particularly in every sector, in which technology and technical knowhow, the composure of demand, institutions and features of different firms are distinct from one another. The idea of Sectoral System of Innovation (SSI) is therefore suggested with the aim of analyzing the various outlined factors, which can effectively predict some actual trends in innovation within every sector, with various influences on economic development as well as adaptation to global problems including change in climatic conditions. Empirical research works however do not fully take into consideration the sectoral disparities in the novelty for adaptation to changes in climatic conditions and the responsibility assigned to SSI.

The approach of SSI is therefore proposed to assist in the exploration of adaptation statuses to changes in climatic conditions within crop production and livestock production organizations, which are observed to be the same as per the views of farmers as well as shifting historical affluences, and rules. The paper therefore contributes much to i) literature of SSI under the field of agriculture, that has been studied with little attention, and ii) conduct studies on adaptation to changes in climatic conditions through paying attention to the responsibility assigned to SSI. Discussion in other sections of the paper is about application of the concept of SSI (Lee, and Jung, 2018). This particular study identifies domestic and international policies including but not limited to COP26 that could alter the energy system through technological innovations to achieve stabilization targets of greenhouse gas while at the same time meeting the societal goals. Considered in the paper is the empirical evidence and conceptual basis on the efficiency and effectiveness of the policies on climate change. The paper has reviewed the literature on the prospects and trends for innovation in climate mitigation.

The United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP26) which was held in the year 2021 in the UK Glasgow brought together several leaders to address the aspect of global warming critically. The conference focuses on gaining commitment for sustained progress towards UN framework convention and Paris Agreement on climate change through reduction of the increased global temperature to 1.5⁰C. In the present years, it can be stated with a lot of confidence that change in climatic conditions is among the major problems affecting development worldwide (Krogstrup, and Oman 2019). For the past one and a half century, GHG concentration within the atmosphere has significantly increased, especially contributed by nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxide. It is a common knowledge that such gaseous components significantly contribute to climate change since they trap heat in the atmosphere therefore resulting into an increased average temperature of the surface. It is outlined within this dissertation that challenges related to environment mainly call for joint action to allocate the most effective resolution measures. at the same time, highly restricted regulatory policies are as well necessary for minimizing the emissions and facility technological inventions (Wang et al.2019).

Factors Determining the Adaptation Rate to Changes in Climatic Conditions

To a greater scope, the research on the innovation and technological change has been supported by the attempt to understand and alter major factors contributing to economic development alongside competitiveness within the market economy. Various literatures have therefore been established by scholars with the aim of analyzing some of the major components of innovation and some of its related factors – right from the organizational and individual behavioral conducts, to the duties and performance efficiency of policies set by the government to mainly facilitate innovation within given fields of economy or specific technological areas of target like agriculture, aircraft or computers (Dechezleprêtre et al.2020).

The duty assigned to technological innovation as far as provision of solution to environmental challenges such as water pollution and air pollution is concerned is the most current technological innovation. Different from other innovations within factories like electronics or pharmaceuticals – in which the outcome is new products desired by consumers (for example, highly effective or reduced-cost medicines, internet services or cell phones) – there is reduced or completely no “natural” market for wide range of environmental technologies which mainly operate to minimize or completely do away with emission of pollutants to the surrounding. According to the conducted research, greater percentage of individuals are not willing to contribute to the changes implemented to drive away from pollution effects resulting from emission of greenhouse gases alongside other pollutants (Partey et al.2018).

In such particular conditions, the duty of set policies and regulations by the government turn out to be critical, because greater percentage of challenges affecting the surrounding calls for joint action to ensure provision of effective solutions to the challenges. In the same manner, the context and scope of novelties that enhance the effectiveness of environmental controls or reduces on cost highly relies upon the actions implemented by government policies at all levels.

The main aim the study was to discuss the perception of farmers in regard to contribution of innovation to climate change targets that have been set in place by the concerned global parties. These include analysis of the challenges observed following the introduction and enhancement of the newly designed approaches or techniques in both agriculture and other various systems based on the change in climatic conditions.

This proposal attempts to analyze various responsibilities assigned to SSI in the adaptation of sectors to change in climatic conditions, paying attention to various production sectors in UK. The paper tries to provide an answer to a pair of questions:

What is the perception of farmers about climate change?
What are some of the sustainable methods or innovations being adopted by the farmers to meet the demands of the changes in climate?

In this particular chapter, there is presentation of the literature review related to the adoption of various innovative mechanisms to mitigate changes in the climate and control of the pollution in general. Fundamental history of climate change control measures and techniques are highlighted while pointing out the research gap to be addressed.

Most of the currently conducted research on climate outlines some future significant influence contributed by change in climatic conditions to the sector of agriculture. Some of the likely expected effects discussed within the research paper include temperature increase across the globe resulting into climatic migration to the regions surrounding the poles from regions surrounding the tropics, rise in sea levels, advanced rate of snowmelt and variation in timing and volume of water required for irrigation, and increased possibilities of risk occurrences (Abbas, and Sa?san 2019.). The aforementioned implications are analyzed and how they contribute to development systems of agriculture based on the innovations considered to be very essential approach for reliance to changes in climatic conditions.

The Role of Sectoral System of Innovation (SSI) in Adaptation to Changes in Climatic Conditions

Based on the considered migration effects in the following years, expectations are laid down that change in climate patterns will result into temperature rise across the entire globe within the range 1 to 3 ⁰C, which is considered similar to change in weather patterns in the order of 300 to 500 km towards the poles from the equatorial regions. In addition, change in temperature along the higher altitude regions will show an increase in temperature. Change in climatic condition is anticipated to the negative general influence in the production under agriculture, the distributional influences have greater weight compared to aggregate influence. Therefore, for example, some warm regions for agricultural production unfeasible for farming, while change in climate will deem other regions fit for crop production. Innovations to act in response to variations in temperature will consist of implementation of new crops as well as varieties in some regions, to shift away from unsupportive areas of crop production, or infrastructural investment alongside alternatives within new regions.

The influence posed by migration of weather does not only cater for the plants but to various species across the affected region. For instance, temperature may act as an essential boundary for infestations of pests since pests and other insects migrate depending on change in conditions, trees and stationery. Migration of pests may pose significant dangers to viable tree-based economies, and thus will call for effective interventions and monitoring. The displaced individuals following the occurring trends may not prove to be the right persons to assume the presented new opportunities by the change in climate. Establishment of new techniques among other economic operations to hasten adaptation to changes in climatic conditions together with amelioration of uncalled for migration will be considered to be of great value. Inventions for the adaptation to weather migration will differ depending on the location showing spatial heterogeneity (Picatoste et al.2018).

Within some zones, new resolutions will be recommended to solve the challenge of pest migration and at the same time develop crop varieties to comply with the persistently changing conditions of the atmosphere. Some regions will force for introduction of completely new varieties of crops which adhere to the surrounding climatic conditions. Lastly, in other areas, there will be need for introduction of techniques to hasten migration of individuals out of the affected areas. Designing as well as putting into practice the proposed solutions will still remain to be a big challenge following the uncertainty concerning the intensity and timing of the climate change

The UN Climate Change Conference which took place in Glasgow commonly referred to as COP26 brought together over 40, 000 participants who are registered and 12o world leaders. These included 14, 124 observers, 22 274 delegates of the party as well as 3886 representatives of media. During this period of two weeks, the world attention was for once directed to the topic of climate change- the solutions, science, the clear indication to act as well as the political will of the same action. The COP26 outcome which would later be termed as the Glasgow Climate Pact-was the intense negotiations fruits among the involved 200 countries over the last two weeks, strenuous informal and formal work over several months as well as engagement constantly both virtually and in person for the period of two years.

The countries which were present basically reaffirmed their commitments to the goals of Paris Agreement goals which potentially limited the increase in the average temperature of the globe to be at least below 2⁰C above the levels of pre-industry while at the same time pursuing the efforts of reducing the same limit to 1.5⁰C. Also they further expressed utmost concerns and alarms that the activities of human have resulted to the warming of the globe by about 1.1⁰C to the present data. And that the impacts of this rise in temperature in being felt in most of the countries. The concerns raised here included the rapid depletion of the carbon budgets and this is not in consistence with Paris Agreement. Recognized was that the impacts of change in climate will extremely lower at the increase of temperature at 1.5⁰C as opposed to the value of 2⁰C.

The present member states stressed on the urgency of the measures to be put in place while describing the period of climate change as “critical decade” in which the emission of carbon dioxide needs to be reduced by nearly 45% so that the target of net zero can be realized in the mid-century.

The advantages and disadvantages of various policies for mitigation to change in climatic conditions is a common topic of discussion in various literatures and a point of argument in most of the policy meetings. Certainly, the decision made by any country on the adoption of any given policy, whichever unilaterally or as a means of an international solidarity, will be determined by a number of circumstances and factors as discussed in other relevant documentations. Relatively, the antecedent discussion was held with the aim of illustrating major ways through which decision made on a given policy may influence innovation in technology as far as mitigation of GHG emission is concerned. In the same case, it has been identified that other forms of policies like anti-trust enforcement and patenting, can as well pose indirect impact on innovation, as pointed out by other scholars.

In a number of occasions, the recommended pathway for mitigation of change in climatic conditions alongside technology innovation will involve a unification of policies that ensure provision of “carrots” as well as “sticks”. The modest, though essential content of this paper section is that stabilization of GHG levels cannot be singly handed by voluntary technology policy measures. Enough strict regulatory policies are as well required to lower emissions of greenhouse gas, and to promote innovation in technology.

The members showed commitments to rely on other forms or sources of energy other than the fossil fuels which are characterized by the emissions of heavy carbon.

The climate change summit of COP26 has come to close associating itself with significant progress in various areas although this is not sufficient. Most of the regions have remained to be off track in beating crisis of the climate change.

Having recognized the climate change urgency, the ministers drawn from various part of the world came to a consensus that when coming back, they should carry with them stronger targets on emission reduction by 2030. This would be in line with the aim of ensuring that the gap is closed to the limitation of the global warming to a value of 1.5 C. There was also agreement by the ministers that for those countries which are developed, there would be need for delivering resources more so for those other countries which are vulnerable to changes of climate to avert the costly and dangerous climate change consequences which they may be now feeling (Anser, Zhang and Kanwal 2018.).

The use of the strategy of ISMP will need practices including minimal fertilizer application, zero conservation tillage, crop residue incorporation, nutrient management, mulch, manure, cover crops, compost as well as appropriate supplementary irrigation. The interventions of ISMP needs integrated utilization of organic and mineral fertilizer and it is made up of their manipulations wisely to gain productive and sustainable agricultural systems. The primary claim of the paradigm of ISMP is that there is no single determinant of the management of soil sustainably which can be relied upon solely. There is evidence which is considerably demonstrating the significance of ISMP contribution in the reduction of emission of carbon through practices of agriculture. The ISMP adoption through zero tillage as well as conservation can potentially reduce the consumptions of energy as well as increasing storage of carbon in the soils. For instance, there has been wider approval of zero tillage by farmers from various parts of the world including Latin America, Asia, South and North America.

The adoption of the conservation agriculture however including the recently practiced zero tillage in Africa has been criticized widely as access to the required input, labour and training constraints have been pointed out to be serious challenges. In addition, the crucial role of the concepts of ISMP in the sustainable land use have been proved by those individuals who practice and evaluate land use changes induced in the properties of the soil like in the case of Western Ethiopia considering adjacent uses of land namely grazing, forestry and farming/cultivation. It was discovered that the influence on the majority of these parameters were actually negative on the cultivated soils hence calling for the need to employ or use the integrated management of soil facility sustainably to maintain and optimize the physiochemical properties of the soil favorably.

Renewable energy is referring to that type of energy which is obtained from the sources that have the ability of replenishing themselves within the shortest period of time possible. The renewable sources of energy in most of the cases are responsible for the provision of clean energy or one which is characterized by very little carbon emission. Electricity is never available freely in nature. This implies that it must be produced and the production process involves transformation of various forms of energy into electricity. Electricity production is performed in the various power stations commonly referred to as the power plants. At the power plant, the generation of electricity is through the electrochemical generators which are driven primarily by the heat engines that are fueled by the nuclear fission or combustion. For the renewable sources, there has been focuses on the kinetic energy of the flowing wind and water. Other sources of energy include geothermal and photovoltaics.

In order to effectively handle the issue of reliance on burning wood, fossil fuel consumptions as well as operating coal fired plants which are the primary sources of Green House Gases emissions, there is an encouragement of a wide variety of renewable sources as part of the measures in addressing the challenge of the world’s anthropogenic GHG effects particularly in the developing countries. The renewable sources which are important include wind, solar, biomass, hydropower as well as geothermal are likely to play a major role increasingly in the mix of energy in the near future hence the issue of climate change will be effectively addressed in the developing countries. There are cheaper and larger opportunities available in most of the developing countries to reduce the emission of GHG through the adoption of RETs. In addition, rivers, arable land which are rain-fed are additional benefits in most of the tropical countries in the enhancement of the renewable energy sectors proliferation. The energy demand will increase in the countries which are developing.

The RETs particularly in the case of electricity generation has been increasing in terms of its capacity around the world. In fact it is accounting for say 53% in the countries that are developing with the exception only being in the case of biomass. Biomass is used commonly in the rural areas as energy back up or for the improvement of energy security. Increased access to the sources of energy to be used domestically through the concept or under the umbrella of RETs is by extension characterized by benefits such as improved access to better health care, rural women economic empowerment and education. This reduces in turn vulnerability, increase resilience and adaptive capacity to the impacts of changes on climate.

The table shared below gives a summary of the challenges as well as benefits which are associated with the RETs.

Table 1: The summary of the challenges as well as benefits which are associated with the RETs.

Renewable Energy Technology

Characteristics which are beneficial

Barriers / Challenges

Biomass

v Besides being available readily and abundantly, it can be converted very easily to portable fuels of high energy like in the case of gas and alcohol

v Compared with other renewable energy sources, this kind of energy is relatively cheap

v One of the most commonly advantage associated with biomass is the wasteland restoration

v Essential nutrients are extracted from the biomass ash alongside other elements like potassium, calcium as well as oxygen.

Ø Compared to other sources of energy, biomass has lower density of energy

Ø The sufficient use is characterized by the challenges such as collection, harvesting, and storage as well as transportation costs.

Ø There is loss of nutrients through indirect use like combustion, soil erosion, and loss of biodiversity as well as pollution which potentially contributes to the changes in the climatic patterns.

Ø The use of energy of biomass is usually limited and this is attributed to the shortage in the right amounts

Biofuel

Ø It has high ratio of energy to land area. This implies that it is possible to avoid deforestation effects as well as conflicts related to the land tenure.

Ø Meets needs of energy in the rural areas hence acting as stimulants in the growth of the rural economy.

Ø Algae though have been subject to various debate, the fuel has the ability of producing both food and fuel.

The policies guiding the development and use of biofuel are still lacking hence the technology is facing a lot of set back

It is facing direct completion with food

It is very controversial as a result of uncertainty of the benefits of GHG advantages and potential biodiversity impacts

It is characterized by land issues since there are fears of losing land to the companies in the foreign land at the expense of developing countries.

There are various fundamental techniques which are useful in the conversion of other energy forms into electricity. The achievement of the utility scale generation is through rotating electric generators. In some cases, it is realized by the means of photovoltaic systems. Batteries are used in the utilities concepts distribution of the electric power although this is usually in small proportions.

Technique of Generators

Electric Generators are responsible for the transformation of kinetic energy into the electricity. It has since been regarded as one of the most known techniques known for the electricity generation and based on the Faraday’s law. This technique has been experimentally demonstrated through the use of rotating magnetic rotation within a closed loop of the conductors or conducting materials like in the case of the copper wire. In fact all the known electricity generation that are commercially done is achieved through the concept of electromagnetic induction whereby the mechanical energy is used in forcing the generator to undergo rotation.

Electrochemistry

It is referring to the direct chemical energy transformation into electricity like in the case of the battery. Research work has revealed the importance electrochemical electricity generation in the case of the mobile and portable applications. Most of the electrochemical power is currently coming from the batteries. The primary cells like the known Zinc-carbon batteries act as the sources of power directly although the secondary cells which are rechargeable are most effective for the storage unlike the case of the primary systems of generations. The fuel cells which are commonly referred to as open electrochemical systems may be useful in the power extraction either from the natural fuels or from the fuels which have been synthesized.

Agricultural production is affected directly by the changes in the climatic conditions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which is commonly referred to as IPCC has recorded on the assessment report that the production in agriculture in most of the countries in Africa would be influenced considerably by the changes in the climate (Durán-Romero et al.2020). Similarly, there have been concerns on the possible impacts of the changes in the climatic conditions on the agriculture and this has necessitated the changes in the research tests that are being carried out in the last few decades (Lin and Zhu 2019). Concerns about adapting and mitigating to changes in climate have resulted in the renewal of the incentives for investments in agriculture and developing priorities in innovation further. The development of the new measures of agriculture in the near future as well as new technologies diffusion will greatly from the farmer’s ability to participate in the mitigation and adaption to the climate change. The mitigation and adaptation is obvious more in the countries that are developing and have very low level of the productivity in agriculture. In such kind of the countries, there is prevalence vulnerability, poverty as well as food insecurity. This implies that severe impacts of climate change would be very severe (Zhang, and Fujimori 2020).

The improved technology adoption best on the best practices of agricultural management as well as innovations in technology will reduce the emission of GHG while at the same time resulting into the increase in the production of agricultural products. New innovations in terms of technology which adapt or suit to the climate that has been warming has presented a perfect opportunity in building resilience to the climate change impacts in the future particularly as a result of the substantial changes in the variability of the climate being imposed in the production of agricultural products in the developing countries. While most of the technologies in the field of agriculture have demonstrated their direct connection with the changes in climate, there are technologies emerging which are relevant to the practices of agriculture in the countries developing and also have the greater potential of offering adaptation and mitigation benefits. In addition, construction of the agricultural technologies essentially as well as ensuring that they are supplied to the countries which are developing so as to allow for the adjustment of their systems of agriculture to the changes in climate will need further policy innovations and institutional research approach (Landauer, Juhola and Klein 2019).

The shape of agricultural revolution in the coming periods will be determined by how it reacts to the subjected changes in climatic conditions. Based on that fact, agriculturists should vary their operations to cater for changes in climatic conditions and there will be need for modification within the agricultural operations to help lower the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. Change in climatic condition is however regarded to be among the major factors influencing variation and patterns of agriculture. Other than change in climatic conditions, agricultural activities including growth in population, income increment and alterations in human capital, infrastructure and knowledge. Greater percentage of the observed variations under agriculture will be as a result of the newly invented techniques under various institutions and firms (Behnam, Cagliano, and Grijalvo 2018).

According to the definition fronted by IPCC, Climate Change refers to any change in the conditions of climate whether it is as a result of human activity or as a result of natural variability. Anser, Zhang and Kanwal 2018 observed that changes in climate has emerged as an integral component on dialogue touching on development as well as conversation globally since it affects all the countries both developing and developed. Climate has been identified as one of the primary determinants in the productivity of agriculture. Majority of the governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations are worried that the sector of food security is likely to be under string influence should the trend in the changes of the climate continues to heat the world. Studies have indicated that countries are becoming more and more vulnerable to changes in the climatic conditions and the United Kingdom is never an exception. The country is likely to suffer the adverse effects of changes in climate as well as its consequences. In addition, the livelihoods of the individuals living in the rural areas and are heavily dependent on the agricultural produce, the changes in climate would have a serious threat to them.

It is not only that perception shapes knowledge but vice versa is equally true. The perception of farmers about changes in the conditions of climate therefore effects very strongly the manner in which they respond to those uncertainties as well as risks that have been induced by the changes in the climatic conditions. Lin and Zhu 2019 confirmed that the perception of farmers is very crucial as far as mitigation of the adverse effects of climate change to agriculture is concerned. They further recommend that there is need to take certain interventions that targets community of farmers as well as other stakeholders undertaken specifically to improve their preparation levels while handling the said impacts. It is along this line that the undertaken study sought to comprehend the perception of farmers about changes in climate.

The empirical research work that has been presented here forms part of the wider projects under the UK government within the context of Climate Resilience Programme, Crop Monitoring and Modelling Network for Improved Predictions of Climate Impacts: CROPNET-an interdisciplinary project carried out by partners from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the Centre for Rural Policy Research (University of Exeter), Rothamsted Research and Lancaster University. The primary aim of CROPNET has been to engage users in the interactive prototype tool development for prediction and monitoring of the impacts of extreme climate change and weather on the crop yield within the UK. From the onset, the essential part of this process included understanding of the climate risks, attitude towards and experience of the farm advisors, farmers and industry specialists.

Generally farming in the UK is diverse with the geographic nature being very distinctive to the pattern of the system of farming. In the recent decades, there has been polarization broadly between more intensive arable farming in the pasture-based livestock system which is primarily in northern regions of England and arable farming in the southeast and east of England. The gradual consolidation process has resulted into farm size growth although there is still existence of small family farming. This particular research work has focused on case study of the Wheat-Dairy farmers in Northern Scotland. In this chapter, the followed methods while conducting this particular study have been presented. The use of survey as well as triangulation of data has been highlighted.

In this particular study, there was use of primary data sources obtained from survey. Survey research can be defined as the process of carrying out research through the use of surveys that are sent to the respondents. The collected data from the survey would then be analyzed statistically to draw a meaningful conclusion on the research topic. The study adopted quantitative survey methods in which there was scaling up of the responses received from the respondents. Actually there was use of three types of data: Household and village data collection done during nine Focus Group Discussion, semi-directive surveys with the key stakeholders and 240 household farmers. The Focus Group Discussions were carried out with 12 farmers for every group. The members of FGD were selected through local leadership after development of various criteria like the extent of village knowledge, experience in farming, perception of the climate change and finally farming practices diversity. The samples were stratified proportionally to the systems of production. Three groups were considered in the selection including:

Dairy Specialized systems: In this group, at least 80% of the income for farmers comes from the dairy activities

Wheat-Dairy Diversification: The income for the household is equally coming from dairy and wheat.

Wheat-specialized systems: The production of wheat within the household is at a high intensification rate

The survey of the household was carried out via face to face interview during the period of May –October 2021. This was done with the heads of the households. The farmers were asked about the characteristics of the households, general farms features, income types, means of livelihood, perception of climate change, where they had acquired necessary assistance , information, finance, materials, the kinds of the innovations they have introduced and the role of these actors to the activities of farming. This helped in the characterization of dairy and wheat farmers under how innovation systems in dairy and wheat actors are organized.

The collection of data about other stakeholders was achieved through the use of individual semi-structured interviews with innovation networks. These are the class of people who shared their own experience. About 23 interviews of similar kind were carried out with technicians, senior experts and managers.

The analysis of trends in climate change basically considered the perception of farmers as well as historical data on climate. The trend analysis statistical significance was performed through the use of Mann-Kendall test. In order to effectively analyze different actors contribution o the sectors of development, there was use of a six-scale measure(0=No contribution and 5=Very high contribution).

Figure 1: Perception of the farmers on changes in climate ;Source: Survey Data of the Author(2022)

In this particular study there was use of triangulation as well as patent –based data relating to the use of the identified technologies in the indication of the degree to which there is existence of capacity in the developing countries. There have been employment of the bibliometric approaches widely in the assessment of impacts of public policies and R&D in the innovation studies particularly for both emerging and existing technologies. In this regard, the paper starts with the discussion on various technologies which may be potentially useful in the mitigation and adaptation to the climate change particularly in the developing countries.

After identification of the same technologies, the focus would then be laid on the primary obstacles or constraints to the development or success of the technology identified, use and transfer which creates a platform for the discussion of policy implementation to facilitate adaptation and mitigation of climate change in the developing world. Finally, policy implementation in the increase of Research and Development (R&D) investment for the technologies of agriculture towards the management of the climate changes.

Multiple interviewees contributed with same phenomena information each giving or responding from their own perspective. In this case, actors belonging to industry, academia, civil society and government were interviewed. This particular approach was meant to combat or eliminate bias while acquiring a clearer picture of challenges which affect each and every sector in various ways. Besides, central to this thesis was the triplet academia-government-industry as a result of their roles in the emergence of technology, its diffusion as well as implementation and in particular transition sustainability.

By making reference to the discussions presented in other research works, the process of change in technology is generally observed to involve series of stages or steps. The literature uses various terms to provide description to the steps, but the most commonly applied descriptions include:

Invention: Discovery: – designing of new prototypes or new understanding;
Innovation; designing of new or enhanced commercial process or product;
Adoption; initial operation and implementation of the improvised technology;
Diffusion: adoption and implementation of the new technology in wide ranges.

Figure 2:Steps in the change of technology and related relationships (Dechezleprêtre, Martin and Bassi 2019)

In the initial step, the invention stage – is jointly driven in large section by research and development (R&D), consisting of applied as well as basic research. The following step, innovation stage – is a notion applied conversationally to discuss the process of change in technology as a whole. Nonetheless, as applied within this context, innovation is only used to refer to product or process establishment offered in a commercial manner; though it doesn’t imply that there will be adoption of the product or that it will serve a wide purpose. The adoption and wide range application of the product or process is only achieved in case the product meets the requirements of the last two steps – adoption and diffusion, outlining the commercial success of technological innovation. the last pair of steps are considered to be the most essential stages as far as reduction of GHG emissions is concerned through change in technology.

Research operations as well outlines that apart from being a simple linear procedure whereby a single step succeeds the other, all the technological change steps highly interact with one another as outlined in the figure below. Stimulation of innovation is therefore contributed to by both knowledge of ancient users and by R&D, and also the acquired knowledge following the diffusion of technology across the entire market. Therefore, “practical learning” (product manufacture economies) and “learning through use” (product operation economies) are usually (although not regularly) essential factors contributing to adoption and spread of the improvised techniques. Together with sustained R&D (occasionally referred to as “learning through search”) the steps usually assist in enhancing the operability and at the same time lower the cost of improvised technique – the commonly featured and modified tendencies as a “experience curve” or “learning curve”.

Every step of the process equally demands for distinct forms of incentives to support the general objective of change technology. An incentive that deems fit for a given step may be counterproductive or ineffective for the other stage. Change in large scopes must as well be taken into consideration as per the view of the system because effective operation of any introduced mechanism is determined by other non-technological as well as technological contributors. For instance, the wide range application of energy-saving mechanisms capable of automatically regulating domestic appliances such as water heaters and air conditioners may rely upon creation and diffusion of “smart grids” technique within the electrical networks.

In the same manner, the distribution of energy-efficient gadgets may be limited by arrangement of the organization, as for the case of landlord-tenant correlation in which all the parties are tied to an incentive to buy an appliance which is costly though saves on energy. Therefore, apart from technical contemplations, the assimilation and spread of improvised techniques under wider ranges may necessitate measures to take into consideration both institutional and social limitation factors influencing pace and nature of change in technology development

The inferences as well as technological challenges of meeting the set objectives are quite complex. This is as given in the figure below, outlining the present modeling research findings for the United States. According to the study results, there are no possible measures or means to achieve reduction in emission of GHGs be greater values – different models provide various measures depending on distinct assumptions regarding future cost of alternative approaches and their availability among other factors. However, what is insistently demonstrated by the models is that instant changes in energy frameworks will be necessary, considering that it is the major factors contributing to climate change.

In the current periods, more than 80% of the global energy is obtained from fossil fuels. Around 50% of the total energy from fossil fuels assumes the form of oil mainly used for transportation, and somehow same volume of coal mainly used in the generation of electric power, and natural gas applied for most of the industrial as well as domestic operations. The emitted gas, CO₂, from burning processes of fossil fuels, especially from automobiles and power plants, is the major source of greenhouse gas emission. In order to reach at the change to sustainable zero-carbon, the system of energy remains to be the greater challenge encountered to eliminate the impacts contributed by change in climatic conditions.

Every efficacious approach to intensively lower the emissions of greenhouse gas will call for operations not only to implement reduced-emission mechanisms that are currently in place, but also to nurture innovation of improvised techniques desired in the current plan. Consequently, there has been an observed developing trend in the present years on the appropriate means to nurture this innovation, more particularly, the responsibility rested on the governments within the process of technological change.

Despite the fact that research alongside development is a greater component to the process of innovation, there is a developing fame that innovation in technology is a highly complicated procedure that usually consists of interactions with other steps of change in technology as demonstrated by this research work. Therefore, the benefits related to the new technology are only reached at through adoption in wide ranges – a process that requires a lot of time and basically constitutes a series of incremental enhancements to reduce cost and improve operability.

In this particular research framework, the most common question to be asked is that, what are some of the policies and approaches capable of ensuring effective nurturing of technological innovations to assist in reducing emissions of GHG? Based on discussions presented in previous sections of the paper, the emission of GHG mainly relies upon various forms of energy sources and the approaches implemented to ensure satisfaction of society demands through provision of efficient goods and services. Therefore, there are a number of ways through which technological innovations can assist in minimizing emissions of GHG. These include:

Advanced or completely new technologies can facilitate efficient use of energy within devices such as appliances, machinery and vehicles, thus minimizing total energy consumption as well as emission of GHG for every unit of essential service or product.
The invented techniques can establish or adopt the use of other chemicals and carriers of energy associated with emission of less GHG for every unit of essential service or product like renewable sources of energy.
The invented techniques can as well establish various means to provision of goods and services with reduced emissions of GHG (for example, through use of alternative materials or products with reduced emission levels of GHG, or through accelerating larger system-wide changes like the use of teleconferencing and telecommuting in place of automotive and air travel).

Innovations under technology has all the ability to accelerate this complete spectrum of opportunities. A much wider range of innovation would incorporate both institutional and social designs and systems. For instance, innovation in urban planning and development could assists in minimizing demands o energy in the coming years (and possibly minimize the related emissions of GHG) for transport operations and also for commercial and residential buildings. Institutional innovations could ensure provision of motives for the electric utility companies among other factories to major on factors that lower energy demands, rather than policies supporting increase in sales of energy.

In this chapter, there is presentation of the study’s results and its subsequent interpretations. In order to ensure easier and effective result presentations, the content of this chapter has been sub-divided into sections including recommendations on the activities of curbing GHG emissions, necessity in the changes of the technologies, the progress of technology changes, advantages associated with the technological innovations on climate change innovations, effectiveness of policy implementation, processes of decision making and the required resources for the implementation of the innovative ideas. Finally the constraints to the innovation process implementations have been presented.

There was selection of various profile features as independent variables in the establishment of the farmer’s profiles of the area of the area of the study. The obtained results were as summarized in the table given. From the table, it is evident that most of the respondents about 62.50% in the sample of the study were in the category of young age. This was followed by the category of middle age of about 35% respondents and eventually the illiterate class of 30.83% as the respondents. The study sample gender-wise composition indicated males numbers as 98.33%. Also 78% of the individuals had medium family sizes. Of this family, the primary occupation of farming constituted 88.33% with only 12% possessing high experience in farming. Those with the low experience were the majority constituting 85%.

In the case of land holding, the marginal farmers were only 20%, the medium farmers constituted 47.5% and finally 29% as the small scale holders. Low annual income was recorded by the majority of the farmers say 56%. The low class constituted 19% and medium category made up of 24%. In addition, most of the respondents representing 44% confirmed having medium ability of decision making. For those of the farmers who had “high” ability in making decision represented the composition of 33%. Those who reported low decision making ability were only 22%. In terms of motivation economically, the “high” motivation class represented 35%. It is important to note that About 71% of the respondents. Demonstrated medium orientation scientifically.

Interesting sector was the mass media ownership in which about 93% of the respondents confirmed having mobile phones, Television ownership constituted 57%, 51% constituting those individuals with Radio while Newspaper ownership only constituted 25%. However, in terms of exposure to media, most of the respondents reported significantly low exposure to media with the medium class only making up 23%. The least representation was 16%. The behaviour of information seeking was well demonstrated with its percentage rating being 91%.

SI NO.

Variables

Frequency

Percentage

Age

Young

Middle

Old

62.5

2.5

Education

Not learned/ Illiterate

Level of Primary

Middle Level

Level of High School

Intermediate

Above or equivalent to graduate

30.83

10.83

14.16

21.67

12.5

Gender

Female

Male

118

1.67

98.33

Size of the Family

High

Medium

Low

17.5

78.34

4.16

Occupation

Farming

Farming as well as others

106

88.33

11.67

Experience in Farming

High

Medium

Low

103

12.5

1.67

85.83

Holding of Land

Marginal

Small scale

Medium scale

Large scale

29.17

47.5

3.33

Annual Income

High

Medium

Low

19.16

24.17

56.17

Ability to Make Decisions

High

Medium

Low

33.33

44.17

22.5

Motivation Economically

High

Medium

Low

62.5

35.83

1.67

Orientation Scientifically

High

Medium

Low

7.5

71.16

20.89

Exposure to Mass Media

High

Medium

Low

51.67

57.5

Ownership of Mass Media

Radio

Television

Newspaper

16.67

23.33

Behaviour of Information Seeking

High

Medium

Low

110

6.66

91.66

1.67

In this particular study, it has been regarded as the farmer’s opinion towards changes in climate as well as its subsequent effects on agriculture. The perception of farmers in regard to the changes in climate is as summarized in the table given above. From the presented findings, it is evident that most of the framers about 54.17% demonstrated very high perception towards changes in the conditions of the climate . The lowest category was equivalent to 20.83% and the medium results were 25%. The study’s finding were the same as those established by the previous scholars in which most of the farmers had very high perception about the parameters of climate change like rainfall, temperature as well as drought.

Figure 3a: Farmer’s distribution on the basis of their perception about changes in the climatic conditions

In addition, the perception of famers about various dimensions on the changes of climate was equally analyzed and the below results were obtained. The results have been summarized in the table shown below:

Majority of the respondents say 83% as clearly summarized in the table shown below were in agreement that there has been temperature increase and even the number of sunny days too have increased. The quantity of rainfall has too increased as confirmed by 68% of the respondents and they attributed these incidences to changes in the conditions of climate. According to the respondents, the frequency of rainfall has increased and its occurrence is either earlier or later than it used to be previously. This particular perception attracted the attention of about 80% of the respondents. There has been an increase in the total number of rainy days as confirmed by 75% of the respondents. Also the dry spell duration during the seasons of rainfall too have increased as conformed by 85% of the respondents. According to 75.8% of the respondents, the summer’s heat intensity has increased with the winter cold “bitterness” increasing annually as confirmed by 65% of the respondents. Decrease in the level of water table was confirmed by 75.8% of the respondents and the same impacts were attributed to changes in climate. On this observation basis in relation to Dimensions of Climate Change, it can be confirmed that most if the respondents had a feeling that a lot has changed in terms of parameters of the elements of climate. As a result, farmers would be expected to be able to identify these changes before coming up with the strategies of adaption so that they can remain in market.

The results obtained from the survey indicated that in most of the energy-intensive industries, the new technology implementation is characterized by a cost-saving effect which outweighs the research and development cost devoted to the innovation. For the past one and a half century, there has been an observed intense increase in the amount of pollutants in the atmosphere including emissions from greenhouse gas effects mainly comprising od carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide together with emissions from industries comprising of components such as perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride and hydrofluorocarbons. Gases emitted from greenhouse effects contribute to change in climatic conditions by trapping heat within the layers of the earth, thus increasing the average temperature of the surface. This will finally change the trends and amount of precipitation alongside ocean and air currents flow around the world – all these contribute to change in climatic conditions either directly or indirectly and is termed as the average weather within an area for a specific period of time, usually decades.

Table 2: The levels of greenhouse gas emissions (Dechezleprêtre et al.2020)

The present high levels of greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to most of the operations carried out by human beings. The figure below outlines the present growth in the trend of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, given in the form of tonnages of “carbon dioxide equivalent”, which contributes to the variations in trapping ability of heat of various gases relative to CO₂. The effect is observed to be mainly contributed by carbon dioxide emissions from combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas, mostly built of hydrogen and carbon. Considering the fact that usage of energy as well emits non-CO₂ greenhouse gases, mainly N₂O and CH₄, consumption of energy contributes to around 80% of the total emissions from greenhouse effects.

Figure 3b: Ancient trend in the concentration of major greenhouse gases within the atmosphere (Durán-Romero et al.2020)

Figure 4: Current trend in the emission of greenhouse gases across the world (Dechezleprêtre et al.2020)

The core principle of the challenges associated with climate change is that persistent in the present trends would lead to significant increase in emission of greenhouse gases in the coming years relative to world population growth, economic development alongside other components increasing emission of greenhouse gases. This in turn resulted into an increase in average temperature of the world by around 1.1 ⁰C as projected by scientists. Considering that there are major limitations associated with the projections as given in the figure below, the most significant effects of global warming would result into adverse effects to the health of individuals, agriculture, water supplies and human settlements especially along the coastal regions which are prone to rise in sea levels and storms.

Figure 5: The ancient trends and prominent setups of global warming with the rages given for the scenarios on the right hand (Gössling and Scott 2018)

Basing arguments on such numerous uncertainties, should individuals wait for the featuring of more intensive empirical evidence on the intensity and influences of change in climatic conditions? Conventional air pollutants such as particulate matter and sulfur dioxide differ from greenhouse gases in that, after emission, the greenhouse gas exists within the atmosphere for an extended time period – mostly for hundreds of years. For instance, approximately 50% emission of CO₂ into the atmosphere will remain within the layers for more than 100 years causing global warming. On the other hand, conventional pollutants can only exist within the atmosphere for a short period of time – usually days or weeks before being washed away by various chemical or physical processes. Therefore, immediate reduction in conventional pollutants emissions alongside their related effects would result into immediate decrease in concentration within the atmosphere. For the case of GHGs, concentrations within the atmosphere would continue to rise due to their permanent nature, only if their emissions are instantly reduced. Therefore, in case the effects of change in climatic conditions will turn out to be intensive as reflected, minimizing the emission of greenhouse gas in the forthcoming years will not significantly contribute to the instant decrease in concentration of harmful gases within the atmosphere to eliminate such harmful gases.

The establishment of international policy objectives for worldwide climate change took place in the year 1992 led by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This approach has currently been adopted by various nations as a stabilization tool for the concentration of GHG within the earth layers to the levels capable of reducing harmful anthropogenic disturbance with the climate system. Most of the research works have tried to develop better understanding and quantification of the existing relationship between human operations, emissions of greenhouse gas, the current trend of increase in concentration within the earth layers, the persistent variation in world temperature, and the influences posed by such factors. The most common hesitations are in the relationship between persistent increase in global temperature and the final influences. Nonetheless, by making reference to the present studies, most of the policymakers across the world propose for a maximum rise of 2 ⁰C in long-term global temperature since the main aim of the policy is to minimize effects associated with GHG emissions. In order for the objective to be met, various operations are required to stabilize the concentrations of GHG within the earth layers at levels a bit higher than the present levels. This would basically call for decrease in emissions of GHG per year across the world by around 30% in the coming years as anticipated by the current research works.

Technological change on high levels will be required to lower the level of emissions of GHG to the atmosphere. As depicted by the above figure, there are four major approaches that can be applied to change the system of energy for a given area or country: (i) minimize energy needs in every sector of economy including industries, transportation or construction to lower the demand for fossil fuels; (ii) enhance power consumption efficiency to ensure that reduced amounts of fossil fuels are required to satisfy energy demands, thereby resulting into reduced emissions of CO₂; (iii) support the use of lower- or zero-carbon alternatives like nuclear, natural gas and renewable sources of energy like solar, biomass and wind in place of high-carbon fossil fuels such as oil and coal; (iv) absorb and confiscate carbon emissions of fossil fuel combustion to ensure it is not released to the earth layers.

As clearly presented in the above figure, in order to achieve the 80% reduction in CO₂ emission, the techniques are all required to minimize emission at the least cost possible. Decrease in the demand of energy, comprising of the impacts of advanced efficiency, significantly contribute to all the five models indicated apart from one model. The unrestrained burning of coal is eradicated and suddenly limited in all the cases, and the direct consumption of natural gas together with oil is minimized as per the reference case of the year 2000. On the other hand, consumption of biomass, nuclear energy and renewable energy sources, especially wind energy intensively advances in these research works. This trend is as well observed for the case of carbon capture and storage (CCS). The approach is believed to facilitate the absorption of carbon gas from power plants as well as other large industries and confiscate the captured gas under deep geologic formations or depleted reservoirs of gas or oil. The approach has attracted the attention of most companies in the present periods, with attempts currently under process to establish and implement the possible operation of carbon capture technique for the mitigation of climate change.

Figure 6: The obtained study results for the models depicting the least cost energy mix for US for the policy scenario targeting at 8% decrease in emission of GHG below 1990. the given energy consumption of 2000 acts as reference (Ojo, and Baiyegunhi, 2020).

The same transformation modes of energy framework outlined by the above figure for US nation are observed bin other modeling studies at the international level. Considering that the consumption of energy is the major source of greenhouse emissions, change in technological approaches will be necessary within other fields to effectively address the concept of climate change. For instance, alteration in the operations of land use, most particularly cutting down of trees, are required to eliminate emission of carbon gas from natural “sinks” like soils and forests. This alteration in technology can as well reduce or eliminate the emissions of non-carbon gases like PFCs within Semiconductor Company or emission of nitrous oxide from agricultural practices. Of greater concern, preferably, there will be need for adaptation to climate change, and such compliances will as well call for some scopes of change in technology.

In summary, the establishment and implementation of newly designed technology is a very crucial component of any comprehensive response to change in climatic condition across the world. However, the change in technology on the desired intensity cannot be a short-term process. In order to attain significant decrease in the emissions of carbon dioxide gas, in the above figure for instance, the United States alone would need to shift from or substitute various electric power plants, a large number of vehicles together with consumer appliances, building frameworks (for lighting, cooling and heating), alongside industrial processes and gadgets. Alterations to this scope will be attained after several years.

Most of the required techniques are either too costly or do not commercially exist like the alternatives to automobiles driven by gasoline. Other measures like sequestration mechanisms for power plants and carbon capture are about to attain high popularity both at political and social levels. Considering the fact that the establishment and assimilation rates for the arising technologies are in line with the policies set by the government and also forces within the market like prices of energy, the process of change in technology and innovation alongside their influential factors look vigilant.

Figure 7: The progress of generation of electric power from wind in US (Matschoss and Repo 2018).

The figure below outlines a single estimate of how the future cost of minimizing emissions of GHG can be reduced by technological innovations. In this particular research paper, the approach “business as usual” – comprising of ancient rates of technological advancements – is compared to another approach characterized with rapid change in technology. The cost required to facilitate intense decrease in emission of GHG is dramatically lowered on implementation of new technologies. Such decrease in the unit cost of reduction turns out to a significant savings on cost at both national and international levels, more particularly as the demands of reducing GHG emissions become severe over time.

The common challenge associated with emission-reduction of GHG is that few markets are available to cope up with the low and more efficient techniques of emission. For instance, why would it be necessary for the electric utility company to spend more money on the technique of carbon capture and storage (CCS) if totally there is no need to lower emissions of CO₂ to greater extents? What is the total number of people who at will, would purchase improvised electric vehicle associated with higher costs compared to conventional automobile mainly for the reasons of reducing footprint of carbon? Quite expensive operations adopted by firms or persons to lower the emission of GHG offer reduced or completely no reasonable value to the person or company. It is only through the policies implemented by the government that can contribute to some reasonable amounts the rate or quantity of GHG emission reduction through provision of finance and creation of markets for the produced goods and services. The actions of the government to establish or improve existing markets for the techniques responsible for reducing GHG emissions are considered to be effective tool of technological innovation process (Adamson, G.C., Hannaford, and Rohland, 2018.).

Technological innovation is affected by different policy measures in a number of ways. Generally, there are two major categories of policy options, that is, mandatory requirements and voluntary measures (“sticks” and “carrots”). The initial category – usually referred to as “technology-policy” options – issues motivations of different forms to facilitate establishment of some actions or techniques. The other category comprises of actions taken by the government to enforce limitations or requirements on some given technologies, facilities or activities, mainly through setting of standards and regulations. The table below provides a list of measures in place, categorized into three groups. The first category represents direct support of the government for the generation of new technology by R&D (comprising of improvised technologies and concepts). This is regarded to be the most common way through which government offer support for innovation, and basically includes various private as well as public organizations. The other category outlines a series of policy actions deployed by the government, which facilitate commercialization, deployment and creation of new technologies either directly or indirectly. The measures have been observed to significantly contribute to the development of technology in the past periods. For instance, US government procurement of computers as well as jet aircraft at the early phases of commercialization following 2^nd World War significantly contributed to their progressive development as well as diffused implementation within the marketplace. In the recent periods, support offered by the government in terms of investment tax credits alongside production tax credits (also referred to as feed-in tariffs) have greatly facilitated faster development in wind-energy systems, as outlined in the figure below. Other factors like loan guarantees and demonstration projects support are recently implemented to facilitate investments in “clean coal” techniques like CCS and coal gasification systems.

The final category of technological policy actions in the below table outlines ways to facilitate learning and spread of knowledge. Such comprises of training programs and educational supports, alongside actions like establishment of standards and behaviors that propose the spread of improvised technologies.

Table 3: Policy options set by the government of US, capable of nurturing innovations in technology to lower emissions from GHG (Gössling and Scott 2018).

The set regulatory measures for energy and environment adhere to “market failures” whereby persons as well as organizations bear little or completely no economic motivations to restrict operations that significantly affect the community as general (like pollutant emission to the surrounding), alongside lack of intervention by the government. Various studies have pointed out that the regulatory policies for energy and environment are capable of influencing the creation and implementation of major technologies related to energy, and as well promote innovations that lower emissions from GHG and other air contaminants. Most of the commonly cited examples comprise of energy efficiency standards for most of the appliances like refrigerators, improvised source performance standards for power-plants air contaminants, fuel economy and pollutant emission standards for automobiles and market inducements like cap-and-trade for power plant emissions of SO₂.

During the year 1975 for instance, the government of US enforced Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for each and every vehicle sold within the state mainly with the aim of reducing consumption of oil following the rise of Arab oil embargo in 1973. This resulted into an abrupt rise in the consumption rate in oil by passenger cars. As a result, various technological innovations were implemented within the country that affected almost the entire automobile company. The set standards were observed to lower the consumption rate among users, and through this there was a recorded significant decrease in the release of pollutants, especially CO₂ from greenhouse gas effect as a result of fuel combustion. Regardless of the strict policies on prices and taxes within the country to promote energy efficiency, observations made from other states show that high taxes on gasoline would as well facilitate the process of innovation within the automobile companies.

Figure 8: Tendencies in the consumption of energy, value and size of new refrigerators in US(Gössling and Scott 2018).

The efficiency standards of energy have as well lowered the average consumption of energy by most of the domestic gadgets like air conditioners, dishwashers and refrigerators. The figure below, for instance outlines a drastic fall in the average consumption of energy within new refrigerators – then the highest energy-intensive domestic gadget in US – as a result of implementation of adopted standards as from 1970s, and the implementation of national standards from the year 1990. Following the numerous innovations in technology, the average consumption of energy by refrigerators per year was minimized to almost one third of the original value. Also, there was an observed decline in retail price of new refrigerator by a factor of two, despite of the increase in the average size of the new units. The general savings in the demand for electric power eliminated the need for various new power plants alongside related GHG discharges and air contaminants.

The aspect of SO₂ discharges from electric power plants outlines further the significant contribution of performance standards on innovation for designed mechanisms to regulate safety of the surrounding. Strict national policies were implemented for discharge of sulfur gas for new coal-fired plants to control pollutions in the environment. There was an observed drastic increase in “incentive operation” as estimated by the total count of US patent field, within the region of SO₂ control, as illustrated by the figure below. Following the high demand and implementation of post-combustion capture technique, there was an observed decrease in the capital cost of these systems by almost 55% for the past few years, and at the same time the cost of operation also dropped instantly. At this particular moment, there was an observed considerable increase in system efficiency. The trend has continued and the currently designed SO₂ capturing systems are more than 90% efficient. In case the CCS techniques of CO₂ turns out to be a cost-effective approach for minimizing GHG emissions, there will be possible need for sustained cost and efficiency advancements within such systems. The outlined discussion of post-combustion capture of sulfur dioxide gas supports the fact that effectively established regulatory policies are very necessary for meeting the objective of emission reduction.

The above outlined regulatory policies are reflections of what are commonly termed to be “command-and-control” regulations that drive the manufacturers or contaminators to comply with some set standards of technology performance for domestic appliances. The most currently assimilation of “market-based” policies, like the cap-and-trade frameworks assumed for adherence to acid rain legislation and control of summer zone, provides a highly flexible opportunity to the contaminators to adhere to the regional or national demands for the general standards of decrease in discharges. Flexibility of such types intensively reduces the compliance cost.

Figure 9: US patenting operation in the capture techniques of SO₂ (Makondo, and Thomas, 2018)

In order to achieve the set goals of climate change, there is need for various policy drivers as well as inclusion of human together with financial resources to promote every step involved in the process of change in technology as outlined in the figure above. These resources are regarded to be essential for the innovation phase of technology. Particularly, there are major requirements for improved financial aid for R&D and for individuals with indispensable creativity, training and skills to invent, both with respect to energy demand and supply technologies and in other fields characterized by emission of GHGs such as manufacturing factories, forestry, and agricultural sectors.

The current appearance for the most common infusion of these resources is definitely intermingled. In the current periods, some countries prone to large emissions of greenhouse gases worldwide – has seriously shifted to invest in “green” energy technologies and has driven such countries to become the leading manufacturer of photovoltaic cells, and also rampant force in wind energy systems. Countries like China are currently investing intensively in the production of nuclear power, and is generating greater percentages of clean coal technologies, comprising of CCS systems.

On the other hand, the US national government funding for power R&D, has abruptly decreased in the past few years. The fundings were discovered to be less that 20% in the year 2008 compared to the funding value in the year 1980. There is however an increased funding for the federal energy R&D within the country for the past few years – and also an abrupt rise in the year 2009 as a factor to facilitate economic development. The level of expenditure given by the US government for energy R&D is much lower compared to that directed to other key science and technology regions like health and space. Different from other industrialized nations like France, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Canada, the amount of expenditure delivered by US on energy R&D is lower and is in the form of gross domestic product fraction. This is shown in the below figure that makes a comparison of the expenditure contributed by the government on energy R&D between Japan and US in the form of GDP percentages. From the figure, it is observed that the percentage of GDP for Japan has been above that of US for the past 30 years. Whereas in extreme conditions spending by US is seen to be above that of other third world countries, the controlled research indicates that energy R&D is not given enough priority in the United States as compared to other industrialized nations.

Figure 10: Government expenditure on energy R&D in Japan and US(Janssens et al.2020)

Eventually, in order to ensure that the challenge attributed to change in climatic conditions is completely addressed, the private sector must equally contribute to the process of technological innovation. There is however no consistent information on funding of energy-based R&D by private sectors. International Energy Agency (IEA) together with other bodies have estimated that the present R&D spending rate by power sectors is wayward below the spending rate of industries like biotechnology, software and computer services and pharmaceuticals – industries whose worth is highly determined by the ability to generate new or advanced products. Under the energy production sector, the spending rate on R&D by the electric-power industry tends to be lower and is expressed as a percentage of sales. This therefore advocates that there is need for intense investment made by private sectors in R&D in order to develop new technologies that contribute to reduction in the emission of greenhouse gas for mitigation of climate change. Consequently, policies enforced by the government must allocate various potentials as well as markets required to facilitate investment in R&D among the private sectors mainly to lower emissions of greenhouse gas. Innovations under technology to lower the secretions of GHG will as well demand for advanced skilled employees, more particularly scientists together with engineers in a wide rage of specialties. The little available information indicates that the number of skilled employees within the energy industry is quite low compared to the total workflow required within industries in US. For the past few years, there has been an observed intense decrease in the percentage of college graduates in US within engineering sectors. Whereas some nations present highly desirable trends, advanced attempts will be required to control human resources and skills to pay attention to the inventions that help achieve the right mitigation for change in climatic conditions.

Changes in the climatic conditions have emerged as one of the primary factors which affects the UK’s agricultural productivity. In fact more than two thirds of the activities of agriculture in the UK are rainfed. This implies that the seasonal success of the group or crop yield performance will always be at the mercy of climate vagaries. Therefore, it would be at most concern for the makers of policy as well ad other scholars to identify and isolate those factors which affect the productivity of agriculture as well as the efficiency of the same production. Hence, understanding the perception of farmers towards changes in the climatic conditions, factors responsible for the perception of farmers towards changes in climatic conditions as well as their impacts negatively to the productivity of agriculture will go all the way to ensure there is specific adoption of the appropriate strategies of adoption. In other words, it will help in the growth of agriculture sustainably hence food security realization.

In this particular study, there has been a highlight on the perception of farmers about changes in the climatic conditions which has been established to be fairly high. Also the study has confirmed that farmers display proper comprehension of the diverse dimensions which contribute to the changes in the conditions of climate like sporadic rainfall, higher temperatures, and increase in the heat stress duration, reduction in the level of the water table among others. However, it has been also established that majority of the farmers are still characterized by low perceptions and are not equipped adequately with the adaption knowledge, resilience and mitigation strategies so that they can foster the climate change adverse impacts on agriculture.

In this particular chapter, there is presentation of recommendations and conclusion of this particular study. It gives a precise summary of conclusions and findings of the study in regard to the objectives of the study as well as finding-based recommendations.

Whereas the study of historical technological innovation has been supported through paying attention to economic development alongside market economy competitiveness, the relationship between technological inventions and achievement of environmental quality objectives still remains to be a subject of major concern. This particular documentation has presented a discussion on the crucial role of technological invention in handling the challenge of change in climatic conditions globally – mainly considered to be the most commonly observed environmental problem.

As discussed in the research work, change in technology over a wider scale will prove necessary in the future periods to attain the international objective of making stable the atmospheric levels of GHGs to levels that prevent hazardous effects. This will automatically call for the replacement of the present GHG-based technologies – more particularly fossil fuel-based techniques with improvised mechanisms associated with reduced or no emissions of GHGs. In most of the occasions, this will call for the use of improvised technologies which are currently not in place for a large commercial scale, or technologies which does not completely exist.

Studies on change in technology outline the complex nature of the process to compost of interdependence within the involved steps of the entire technological change process including invention, innovation, adoption and diffusion. Generally, the benefits of improvised technologies are reached at after a wide range adoption of the process, and this is a long-term process which is realized after a couple of years.

In relation to the practices of technology particularly biotechnology, although it has great capacity of contributing to the outcomes of crop productivity as well as enhancement of crop for the farmers in smallholder capacity particularly in the countries which are developing while responding to the changes in climate (Owen 2020). There are various factors that are known to influence transfer and deployment of biotechnology for the smallholders by both private and public sectors. The first case has a relation to the quantity of investment and funding which influence the capacity of the research as well as the capacity of research as well as the ability of developing the traits enhanced as well as varieties of genetics.

The next obstacle is the intellectual property. However, through the extensive research work in most of the countries that are developing especially in the case of SSA, it can be seen that the intellectual property is not necessarily an impediment which may not need a lot of attention. The third class of the factors which are restricting are observed in most of the countries which are developing particularly in SSA comes up effective system of seed as well as market seeds without services of agricultural support for the farmers to access enhanced genetics promptly.

Besides the above mentioned challenges, the ICT development has also faced several obstacles in the nations that are developing. Lack of the policies of ICT, lack of participation of stakeholders that are relevant, cost of operation, ICT projects which are donor-based with limited funding and duration, lack of proper coordination and corruption and government abandoned projects. All the above outlined characteristics points out majority of the obstacles in the developing countries. These challenges taken together could hinder the development of ICT as well as limit their ability in the implementation of actions which are ICT-enabled with regard to the changes in climate in the developing countries. In addition, the adoption or introduction of RETs may be affected or hindered by various factors including limited expertise and scientific capacity, poor infrastructure, weak institutional capacity, lack of political will, lack of financial resources and environmental and socio-cultural challenges.

Although there may be access to the above technologies, it has never translated to the effective performance and widespread adoption mainly as a result of the factors which worked against utilization of innovations in agriculture including policy alignment, inappropriate incentives, institutional and political support, the development of the technological capability locally, there is a wider variety of technologies agriculturally which have the potential significantly in management of the climate changes. The technologies’ survey in the previous sections has indicated that this diverse and large range but there is a clear missing of various technologies which will be important critically to the adaptation as well as mitigation in the sector of agriculture. The deployment and creating of the above technologies considerably connected to the institutions and policies.

Policies enforced by the government influences output at every step of the technological change process. The innovation phase of technology – that results into the creation of new technologies and processes – is basically undefined since the development routes as well as success probability cannot be anticipated with a lot of surety. Neither does the creation of a new technology gives assurance that it is commercially viable.

The role played by policies enforced by the government is considered effective in the nurturing of innovations and providing solutions to the great challenge of change in climate. In case the incentives or regulatory of the government are not set in place to help curb the problem, the available new technologies within the market are very few mainly improvised to lower the level of emissions of harmful pollutants to the surrounding. Therefore, in order to ensure significant decrease in the emission of greenhouse gases solely to lower the danger of climate change, a range of policies are deployed – mainly to support technological innovation and as well the persistent diffusion of newly improvised technologies under a wider consent of parties such as firms, governments and individuals.

The wide range of policies to facilitate innovation should involve a conjunction of “sticks” assuming the regulatory policy forms wit ether direct or indirect regulations for GHG release (for example, through technology performance standards, market-related approaches or series of combined incentives), and also “carrots” assuming the form of technology policies that offer voluntary measures to support innovation in technology and implementation (e.g. By means of tax credits, government procurement schedules, loan guarantees and proposal for R&D). in order to completely determine the related advantages to technological invention, the range of policies should encourage widespread of skills by means of financial support for training and education, together with other incentives.

Despite the fact that R&D approach is not enough to singly attain the most effective spread in technological change, it is however the most essential tool for the range of policies required to nurture innovations that lower the emissions of GHG. As discussed in the early sections of the research document, significant increase in support offered by the government on energy-based R&D is very essential is addressing the challenge of change in climatic conditions. This significant increase is as well required within private sectors to aid support for R&D, more particularly within the energy-based firms. Policies enforced by the government as well contribute significantly to the creation of needs alongside market signals required by the private firms to validate investments in R&D.

In addition, decreasing the emissions of GHG by means of technological innovations will call for an improved percentage of competent employees, mostly scientists and engineers in different fields, with social sciences included. In the long run, the innovation process is carried out by individuals. The government as well as private firms both has crucial responsibility to attract and retain best individuals with high levels of expertise across the entire globe to provide solution to problems and come up with new ideas for extenuation of change in climate worldwide.

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