Green technology foresight on automobile technology in China

This paper develops a framework for green technology foresight based on the idea of sustainability and takes the Chinese automobile industry as an example for the analysis of its implementation. First, it applies scenario techniques to identify technology requirements, considering six different visions of the future, especially the ‘circulation society’, the ‘environment-friendly society’ and the ‘equity society’. Delphi techniques are used to complete the green technology foresight with an improved questionnaire and statistical model, compared with the traditional one. It is argued that green technology foresight is the evolution and extension of traditional technology foresight, and the basic idea of foresight-guided efforts to achieve sustainability should be considered not only in China, but also in other countries and in other industries.