How do low-carbon policies promote green diffusion among alliance-based firms in China? An evolutionary-game model of complex networks

China has launched a series of low-carbon policies that promote the diffusion of green technologies, in order to advance what is now the world's largest manufacturing area toward more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices. Specifically, alliances between manufacturers (as one of the policy initiatives) have been set up to expedite technology diffusion. What are the patterns of technology diffusion in the alliance, and what are the effects of low carbon policy on the diffusion of technology in the alliance? Using game-based theory, this paper builds an evolutionary game model of technology diffusion between enterprises in the context of a complex network. In particular, it simulates the effects of a carbon trading market, environmental taxes, and innovation subsides, on green technology diffusion of manufacturing firms in a BA scale-free network (Barabási–Albert model) in China. The results show that various levels of policy-implementation (especially the market-based policies) lead to different rates of diffusion. This study provides insights on green diffusion policies and the effectiveness of their implementation in inter-firm alliances.