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This paper takes the establishment of the Green Financial Reform and Innovation Pilot Zone (GFPZ) in 2017 as a natural experiment, adopts the data of a-share industrial listed enterprises in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2010 to 2020, and utilizes the difference-in-differences (DID) method to carry out empirical tests. The results show that (1) GFPZ policy significantly improves the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance of enterprises, and the positive effect is mainly realized by improving the external financing ability and green-technology innovation level of enterprises. (2) There is heterogeneity in the impact of GFPZ policy on the ESG performance of firms with different equity natures and internal control levels. (3) Green finance promotes active corporate social responsibility, and it can further improve environmental governance in the regions where it operates. This paper provides a useful supplement to the comprehensive understanding of green-finance policy effects and ESG impact factors, and it is of great significance in mitigating the negative environmental and social externalities caused by the excessive pursuit of economic benefits by enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using the data from Chinese listed companies in the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share market for the period 2007 to 2019 and the Report on the Work of the Government, this paper investigates the impact of the local government's economic growth target constraints on enterprise technological innovation and its mechanism. It is found that the local government's economic growth target constraints significantly inhibit enterprise technological innovation, which is more obvious in the samples of SOEs, regulated industries, and enterprises at low marketization levels. The change of government officials' performance appraisal indicators from the quantity to quality of economic growth can alleviate the negative effect. The mechanism effect test indicates that the local government's economic growth target constraints will aggravate enterprise financing constraints and decrease the contribution of R&D investment to enterprise performance, and further inhibit enterprise technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]