Search

Simultaneously achieving economic development and environmental protection is a shared global challenge. While the positive effect of environmental regulations on protecting the environment has been widely recognized, the attention paid to low-carbon governance and corporate green transformation remains insufficient. Based on the two-stage least square regression model (2SLS) of instrumental variables, this paper utilizes panel data from China to identify the influence mechanism of government low-carbon governance on enterprise green development. It explores the effect of low-carbon governance on enterprise green development from the perspective of fiscal decentralization. The findings show that (1) Low-carbon governance significantly promotes corporate green development, primarily through improving industrial structure and technological innovation; (2) Low-carbon governance notably promotes the green development of private enterprises but has little effect on state-owned enterprises. There are also geographical differences, and the results are better in Eastern China than in the Central and Western parts of China; (3) Fiscal decentralization at both central and local levels inhibits the effect of low-carbon governance on driving corporate green development by causing a mismatch of human resources. Therefore, to promote corporate green development, low-carbon governance must prioritize green development, actively guide industrial structural upgrading and enterprise technological innovation, implement differentiated low-carbon governance measures tailored to different ownership enterprises, and optimize the assessment indicators for fiscal decentralization. This paper helps deepen the understanding of the relationship between government low-carbon governance and enterprise green development in developing countries. It can be used as a reference for government departments to formulate relevant policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-carbon pilot city (LCPC) plays a pivotal role in stimulating green innovation among enterprises. However, relying solely on policy often proves less effective, necessitating support from financial development. Yet, current research frequently overlooks the impact of financial development on LCPC policy. Drawing on economic, management, and organizational psychology theories, we investigate the influence of the financial development level on enterprise green innovation in LCPC, utilizing data from listed companies between 2010 and 2018. The main finding is that LCPC facilitates institutional-level green innovation. Concurrently, financial development augments the effectiveness of LCPC policy, further expediting green innovation activities among enterprises in these pilot cities. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that financial development significantly promotes green innovation, particularly among state-owned enterprises, those with myopic management, non-high technology industries, and businesses in the southern region within LCPC. Mechanism tests identify enterprises' financing constraints and R&D investment levels as key pathways through which financial development fosters green economic development in LCPC. This study provides micro-level evidence from China elucidating the effects of environmental policies and offers practical implications for the low-carbon transformation of the manufacturing sector amid peak emissions and carbon-neutral targets. Additionally, it provides valuable guidance for other emerging economies seeking enhanced resource and environmental protection through the implementation of energy-saving and emission-reduction fiscal policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To provide evidence at the micro level for cracking the Solow productivity paradox, this paper deeply studies the impact of enterprise digital transformation on green innovation. In terms of theoretical research, three potential mechanisms are excavated for the first time; considering empirical research, a series of strict causal effect identification strategies are carried out. The results show that enterprise digital transformation can significantly promote green innovation, and it passes a series of robustness tests and endogenous tests. According to the theoretical and empirical results, the policy suggestions mainly include five points: helping enterprises to accelerate digital transformation; strengthening the green innovation ability of enterprises; reducing internal and external costs and promoting the professional division of labor; piloting the digital transformation policy; enhancing corporate social responsibility. It provides a reference of experience and a path for other countries to follow in implementing a digital transformation strategy and green sustainable development strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unreasonable economic development model of human beings has caused the environmental pollution problem to become increasingly serious. In order to achieve a positive relationship and interaction between environmental regulation, research and development (R&D) investment, and green technology innovation, and effectively solve the "strange circle" problem between high-quality economic development and environmental pollution in China and even the world, this paper takes the panel data of industrial enterprises above designated size in Chinese mainland 31 provinces from 2009 to 2019 as a research sample. The comprehensive index of R&D investment and green technology innovation was established by the entropy method, and the panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) model was constructed from the dynamic endogenous perspective, and the dynamic interaction and regional heterogeneity between environmental regulation, R&D investment, and green technology innovation were empirically analyzed by using impulse response function and variance decomposition. We obtain the following findings: (1) Environmental regulation has a two-way interaction relationship with R&D investment and green technology innovation, and R&D investment has a promotion effect on the "green degree" of technological innovation, but its role is still weak and has lagging characteristics. (2) There is significant regional heterogeneity in the dynamic responses of the eastern, central and western parts of China. (3) In the long run, environmental regulation has a "negative crowding out effect" on R&D investment in the central region, and the phenomenon of "central collapse" still exists but will gradually weaken. Environmental regulation has a "positive innovation compensation effect" on green technology innovation. Green technology innovation and R&D investment have an obvious "Pareto improvement" effect on environmental regulation, especially in the eastern region. The conclusions of this study help to clarify the dynamic interaction between environmental regulation, R&D investment, and green technology innovation, further improve environmental regulatory policies and green technology innovation R&D decision-making, and provide an effective way to achieve green and sustainable development in China and other parts of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Sustainable Development Agenda Innovation Demonstration Zones (NSDAIDZs) aim to spearhead green development through scientific and technological innovation, showcasing sustainable development to other regions in China and offering valuable insights for countries worldwide. Taking Chengde City, which is one of the cities in the second batch of NSDAIDZs, as a case study, we examine the quantitative impact of technological innovation on green development. Additionally, it investigates the threshold effect of Research and development investments (R&D investments) on the relationship between technological innovation and green development. The results indicate that: (1) technological innovation has a positive promoting effect on green development, with a 1.01% increase in green development for every one unit increase in technological innovation; (2) The positive effect of technological innovation on green development becomes fully realized only when R&D investments and the upgrading of industrial structure surpass a specific threshold value. We contribute to the existing research on the connection between technological innovation and green development in innovation demonstration zones. It also provides empirical insights to foster a mutually beneficial relationship between R&D investments, industrial structure upgrading, and technological innovation, ultimately maximizing the promoting role of technological innovation in green development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green development is an important component of China's new development concept. Pilot Free Trade Zones (PFTZs), as "experimental fields" for promoting reform, deepening opening-up, and raising the level of an open economy, are important open areas for China to promote green development. However, existing related research is not extensive. This article takes PFTZs as quasi-natural experiments, with the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) as the research area. Based on urban panel data from 2006 to 2020, using multi-period differences-in-differences and spatial differences-in-differences models, it explores the impact effects of PFTZs on urban green development and their potential mechanisms. The research findings indicate: (1) Overall, PFTZs significantly promote urban green development, with variations in impact effects due to different batches and locations of establishment. (2) Mechanism tests show that PFTZs mainly promote urban green development by stimulating technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and reducing government intervention. (3) From the perspective of spatial spillover effects, the establishment of PFTZs not only promotes the green development process in the host cities but also has a promoting effect on the green development of surrounding cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the background of increasingly severe environmental problems, green development has gained widespread attention, and green innovation has thus become crucial for enterprises. This study used 2007–2019 data from listed A-share companies in China to evaluate the effect of senior executives' overseas experience on corporate green innovation. The results showed that senior executives' overseas experience could promote green innovation in companies. This positive effect was more significant for private enterprises and high-tech enterprises, especially in eastern China. The CEO pay regulation have a significant negative moderating effect on this positive effect. This study enriches upper echelons theory and provides theoretical support for government agencies to accelerate innovative green development strategies. The results can also provide a decision-making basis for governments to formulate policies to promote enterprises' green development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the ecological-economic-social system, green development efficiency is divided into green ecological efficiency, green economic efficiency and green social efficiency. Their corresponding indicator systems are constructed, and the Super-SBM model, Super-SBM-Undesirable model and kernel density estimation are applied to measure and analyze green development efficiency and its dynamic evolution in western China from 2007 to 2019. Tobit model is constructed and used to empirically analyze the influencing factors of the green development efficiency in western China. The study shows that: (1) green ecological efficiency and green economic efficiency in western China are generally at a low level, and mainly dragged by northwest China, while green social efficiency in western China is generally at a high level, and mainly dragged by southwest China; (2) green ecological efficiency, green economic efficiency and green social efficiency in western China all show a slight trend of first decreasing and then increasing; (3) all three sub-efficiencies of green development in western China have a decreasing trend of absolute difference, right trailing and polarization; (4) the lower green ecological efficiency in western China is due to the negative impacts from the level of government intervention, the level of economic development, and foreign direct investment. The lower green economic efficiency is due to the positive impacts from population density, the level of government intervention, the level of financial development, and foreign direct investment. The higher green social efficiency is due to the positive impacts from population density, the level of financial development, the level of economic development, and the green technological innovation. The study is based on countermeasure recommendations focusing on improving green social efficiency in southwest China, as well as green ecological efficiency and green economic efficiency in northwest China, which are of reference value to promote green development more comprehensively in western China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The green credit policy serves as a crucial instrument for achieving the dual objectives of optimal resource allocation and green development. It plays a pivotal role in curbing inefficient investments in innovation by enterprises. This research employs the PSM-DID method to effectively explore the practical effects of the green credit policy on the innovation inefficiency investments of heavily polluting enterprises in China. Examining the impact from the perspectives of environmental regulation and financial constraints, the study utilizes panel data from listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares markets spanning from 2010 to 2020. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) Green credit policy has proven effective in inhibiting the inefficient investment in innovation by heavily polluting enterprises when compared to non-heavily polluting enterprises. (2) Moreover, this effect is more pronounced in state-owned enterprises and regions with less financial development. (3) Mechanism testing reveals that the green credit policy can discourage corporate over-investment by influencing financing constraints and can alleviate under-investment through commercial credit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the impact mechanism of different types of environmental regulations on corporate green technology innovation (GTI). The research focuses on analyzing three types of environmental regulations: command based environmental regulation (ER1), market-oriented environmental regulation (ER2), and voluntary environmental regulation (ER3), and how they affect corporate GTI. This study selected enterprise GTI as the dependent variable and measured it by the number of applications for green invention patents and green utility model patents. The independent variables are the three types of environmental regulations mentioned above. According to data from Chinese A-share listed companies. Using benchmark regression models to analyze the impact of different environmental regulations on GTI, and constructing a moderating effect model to study the role of corporate R&D investment and government support in the process of environmental regulations affecting GTI. The results indicate that (1) ER1, ER2, and ER3 can all promote enterprise GTI, and the three environmental regulatory methods have a better synergistic effect. (2) R&D investment has a positive correlation with the relationship between ER2 and GTI, and a negative correlation with ER 3 and ER 1. (3) There are differences in the GTI performance of enterprises in different regions, ownership nature, factor density, and industry types under the influence of environmental regulations. (4) The impact of environmental regulatory policies on corporate GTI is mainly short-term. This study provides a new perspective on how environmental regulations affect corporate GTI, especially in the context of developing countries like China. The research findings emphasize the role of different types of environmental regulations in incentivizing corporate GTI, while also pointing out factors that governments need to consider when formulating environmental policies, such as regional differences and corporate characteristics, which are of great significance for promoting green development of enterprises and achieving broader sustainable development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the entropy method and the Super-SBM model with unexpected output are used at first to calculate the digital economy development index and the level of green transformation in manufacturing. Then, a range of multi-dimensional empirical methods, including fixed effects models, threshold models, and mediation models, are applied to analyze the characteristics shown by the impact of digital economy development on the green transformation of manufacturing. The research results are obtained as follows. Firstly, the digital economy contributes significantly to promoting the green transformation of manufacturing after excluding the macro-system environmental effects, conducting such robustness tests as stepwise regression and introducing instrumental variables. Secondly, there is a nonlinear relationship between the development of the digital economy and the green transformation of manufacturing with an increasing marginal effect. Lastly, it is revealed through mechanism analysis that the digital economy promotes the green transformation of manufacturing by enhancing the capabilities of green technological innovation and rationalizing industrial upgrading, with the partial mediation effects reaching 21.2% and 21.8%, respectively. Despite the contribution of digital economy to the advanced upgrading of industries, there is no mediation effect exhibited. In addition to confirming the path of achieving the green transformation of manufacturing through the digital economy, these results also guide the government on how policies can be formulated and improved to grow the digital economy and promote the green transformation of manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) has become a buzzword in investment circles as ecological damage and climate warming occur. ESG assessment is one of the important institutions of the green financial system, which plays a significant part in boosting corporate green development. We use the number of green patent applications and green patent citations to measure corporate green innovation and analyze the micro-green effects of the ESG score system using the panel fixed effects models, which means that we explore the impact of the ESG scores on corporate green innovation performance, the specific mechanism of this effect, and the asymmetry of this impact under different moderation effects by using Chinese listed A-shares in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2010–2019 as our research sample. We find that ESG positively affects corporate green innovation; the higher the ESG evaluation, the more it improves firms' green innovation performance. The promotion effect is reflected quantitatively and qualitatively and remains valid after several robustness tests. In addition, the contribution of ESG to corporate green innovation is achieved through two main paths improving corporate investment efficiency and government-enterprise relations. Corporate black attributes inhibit the contribution of ESG to green innovation, while green attributes strengthen the contribution of ESG to green innovation performance. Our study demonstrates the importance of corporate participation in environmental, social, and governance practices for corporate green innovation, which is beneficial for achieving win-win environmental, social, and economic results. Furthermore, our research completes the research on the effects of corporate green performance and green finance. It can provide empirical references for promoting corporate green development and improving the ESG evaluation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heavy-polluting industry is inexorably to responsible for the deterioration of the environment. Improving environmental performance is an unavoidable decision for heavy-polluting firms to ensure sustainable development under the policy framework of the carbon peak target. This study provides theoretical and empirical evidence for the effect of environmental protection subsidies on environmental performance. This study constructs basic and mediating effect models to measure how environmental protection subsidies affect environmental performance using panel data of China's heavy-polluting listed firms from 2008 to 2019. This is an important outcome of industrial green transformation in environmental governance and provides a scientific basis for government departments to formulate environmental policies. The results of the empirical analysis show that environmental protection subsidies can improve the environmental performance of heavy-polluting listed firms. After receiving environmental protection subsidies, firms engaged in clean and green production through green technology innovation, thereby reducing external environmental pollution and improving their environmental performance. The mediating role of green technology innovation in the relationship between environmental protection subsidies and environmental performance is significant only in state-owned firms and firms in Eastern China. The research results may further guide the direction of green development of heavy-polluting industries, and thus promote harmonious development between the environment and the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]