My research primarily focuses on environmental and energy economics, with secondary interest in innovation economics and industrial organization. I am particularly interested in energy transitions and negative emission towards a Net Zero economy.
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Journal Publications
Journal Publications
Lazkano, I., Feng, S. and Ayasli, E. 2025. "Does the Shale Gas Revolution Hinder Clean Energy Innovation?" Economics of Energy and Environmental Policy, in press.
Feng, S. and Lazkano, I. 2025. "Energy Storage and Clean Energy Transitions," Energy Policy, Vol. 198, 114447.
Feng, S. 2024. “Do Market-based Environmental Policies Encourage Innovation in Energy Storage?” Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Vol.26, 673-713.
Feng, S. and Lazkano, I. 2022. “Innovation Trends in Electricity Storage: What Drives Global Innovation?” Energy Policy, Vol. 167, 113084.
Blogs, Reports and Policy Briefs
Blogs, Reports and Policy Briefs
The Innovation Race on Geological Carbon Removal: Who is Best Placed to Lead?, with Esin Serin, Josh Burke, Maxwell Read and Ram Smaran Suresh Kumar. London: Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science. July 2025.
Policy Pathways to Achieve Net-Zero Goals: A New Look at Carbon Dioxide Removal, with Johanna Arlinghaus, Joseph Stemmler, Sam Fankhauser and Steve Smith. June 2025.
Policy Evaluation and Selection to Accelerate Geological Carbon Dioxide Removal Deployment, with Joseph Stemmler, Johanna Arlinghaus, Sam Fankhauser and Steve Smith, CO2RE Policy Briefing, May 2025.
Working Papers
Working Papers
"A Taxonomy of Policies to Support Geological Carbon Dioxide Removal," with Johanna Arlinghaus, Joseph Stemmler, Sam Fankhauser and Steve Smith. Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment Working Paper, University of Oxford, May 2025. Under review at WIREs Climate Change.
"A Strategic Framework for the Fossil Fuel Endgame," with Sam Fankhauser et al. Under review at Global Sustainability.
The transition away from fossil fuels needs reinvigorating. Here, we review available solutions to advance the fossil fuel endgame. We conclude that by deploying them strategically, a successful transition is possible and indeed likely. The transition must address eight strategic challenges. It requires a new understanding of prosperity, without fossil fuels, which is attractive to both energy consumers and fossil fuel-dependent communities; clear corporate standards to guide behaviour and the removal of imbalances in favour of fossil fuels. The transition itself must progress simultaneously on the demand side, with a sharp reduction in fossil fuel use, and the supply side, with the reallocation of capital and labour. Whatever fossil fuel sector remains must be net zero-aligned. Economically, this means adapting to reduced economies of scale and scope. Environmentally, it requires the capture and permanent storage of remaining emissions. For all the challenges, we identify tried and tested solutions.
"A Value-Chain Methodology to Constructing Patent Datasets for Complex and Emerging Technologies: Application to Geological Carbon Dioxide Removal."
Standard patent classifications capture mature technologies well but perform poorly in complex, emerging fields with fluid boundaries. This paper proposes a value-chain methodology for constructing patent datasets in such cases and applies it to geological carbon dioxide removal, specifically bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS). Mapping functional stages across the value chain yields a dataset of 9,607 patent families. The results reveal distinct innovation dynamics: BECCS displays steady, incremental growth linked to bioenergy systems, while DACCS emerges later with more volatile, research-intensive patterns. Innovation remains concentrated in a few advanced economies but shows differentiated national specialisation. This approach offers a transparent, transferable framework to identify inventive activity in complex, cross-sectoral technologies beyond existing classification codes.
"Did the EV adoption policy in China drive innovation in Energy Storage Technologies?" with Yi Han, Itziar Lazkano and Marlo Magno Vasquez Gozalez.
This paper examines the impact of electric vehicle (EV) adoption policies on innovation in energy storage technologies. While many countries have introduced such policies, our empirical analysis focuses on China, the world's largest EV market and a major source of energy storage innovation. Using a unique firm-level patent database from 2000 to 2023 in China, we estimate a Poisson fixed-effects model to examine how China’s EV adoption policies implemented between 2009 and 2021 influence technological advancements in energy storage. Results show that purchase subsidies alone is insufficient to stimulate substantial innovation in storage technologies. By contrast, policies that combine financial incentives with investments in charging infrastructure significantly increase the likelihood of storage patenting, which highlights the importance of integrated policy design that supports both market demand and enabling infrastructure in accelerating energy storage innovation.
Work in Progress
Work in Progress
"Optimal Policy Sequencing for Large-Scale Deployment of Carbon Dioxide Removal," with Joseph Stemmler and Mark Workman.
"Dynamics in Carbon Storage Innovation and Development on the Path to Net Zero."
"Energy Innovation Trends in Chinese Listed Companies: An Analysis Using Directed Technical Change Model," with Itziar Lazkano and Yi Han.
Conference Presentations
Conference Presentations
Sustainable Future of BECCS Workshop, 2024, London, UK.
The 8th Canadian PhD and Early Career Workshop in Environmental and Resource Economics 2022, Ottawa, Canada
Sustainable Energy Transitions Initiative 2021 Virtual Workshop
The 26th EAERE Annual Conference Berlin 2021
The 27th Ulvon Conference 2021
EAERE Summer School in Resource and Environmental Economics 2021, Graz, Austria
2021 Berkeley/Sloan Summer School in Environmental and Energy Economics
The 38th Annual USAEE/IAEE North American Virtual Conference
Refereeing
Refereeing
European Journal of Political Economy
Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy
Oxford Carbon Removal Budget Symposium Scientific Committee Member (April 2025 — July 2025)
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