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The development of green finance and the promotion of green transformation and upgrading of high energy-consuming enterprises are of great significance for China to achieve the "double carbon" goal. This paper employs a dual fixed-effects model to examine the profound ramifications and intrinsic mechanisms of green finance development on the transformative innovation of high-energy-consumption enterprises, using a sample of 462 publicly traded high-energy-consuming corporations from the period spanning 2016 to 2020. The results show that the development of green finance promotes the transformation and innovation of energy-intensive enterprises and that market-incentivized environmental regulation plays a partially mediating role; the results of heterogeneity analysis show that green finance promotes the transformation and innovation of high energy-consuming enterprises with significant differences in different low-carbon pilot regions, company ownership, and enterprise size; the mechanism analysis shows that the development of green finance can increase government subsidies and alleviate financing constraints to promote the transformation and innovation of high energy-consuming enterprises; it is also found that the development of green finance can significantly improve the financial performance of enterprises. The research findings of this paper hold significant implications for promoting the sustainable development of green finance and high-energy consumption enterprises in China. They provide valuable insights and references for facilitating the green transformation and innovation of high-energy-consuming enterprises in China as well as other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to study the impact of the Ambient Air Quality Standard (2012) on the green innovation of Chinese firms in polluting industries. The analysis features "leverage effect" of Porter Hypothesis imposed by environmental regulations and exploits exogenous variations caused by the promulgation of the new policy. Based on the exogenous variations, this paper uses the time varying PSM-DID method. The findings of this study suggest that the implementation of the new policy improves firms' green innovation. Increments in R&D investment and environmental protection investment are channels through which the new standard positively affects firms' green innovation. The cross-sectional heterogeneity analysis exhibits that the effect of this environmental regulation is stronger for firms with bigger size and lower financial constraints. The contribution and significance of this study are as follows: our study enriches understanding of the impact of environmental regulation on firms' green innovation by empirically confirming the influencing channels of the impact of environmental regulations on green innovation. In addition, this paper contributes to the firms' green innovation literature by empirically validating the role of corporate characteristics in moderating the effect of environmental regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign direct investment (FDI) technology spillovers play an increasingly important role in a host country's development. Evaluating the positive effect of FDI inflows on green innovation is essential for correct city design. Based on the panel data of 262 cities in China from 2004 to 2018, we first analyzed the impact of FDI technology spillovers on green innovation in Chinese cities and then tested the threshold effect in four absorptive capacity factors: environmental regulation, economic growth, human capital, and industry size. Finally, we compared the time and space of two types of cities crossing the threshold from the perspective of innovative and non-innovative cities. The results show that FDI can significantly promote green innovation in Chinese cities and the promoting effect of FDI on green innovation has nonlinear characteristics, namely, such effects only make sense when absorptive capacity is above the threshold points. Additionally, among the four absorptive capacity factors, the development degrees of innovative cities are ahead of non-innovative cities; in particular, there is a significant difference between them in terms of economic growth. Local governments should develop reasonable policy combination tools according to the absorptive capacity characteristics of different cities to effectively promote the technology spillover effect of FDI and achieve coordinated ecological and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the perspective of innovation motivation, low-carbon innovation is divided into substantive low-carbon innovation and strategic low-carbon innovation. On this basis, this study empirically investigates the impact and mechanism of digital transformation on enterprise low-carbon innovation using data from China's A-share listed enterprises from 2005 to 2019. The results show that digital transformation promotes the overall level of enterprise low-carbon innovation, substantial low-carbon innovation, and strategic low-carbon innovation, with a more significant impact on strategic low-carbon innovation. For enterprises with large-scale, belonging to high-monopoly industries and located in high-marketization regions, the promotion of digital transformation is more significant and facilitates strategic low-carbon innovation more than substantive low-carbon innovation. Based on the internal capability perspective, enhancing management capability, R&D capability, and environmental information disclosure capability are three important channels of digital transformation affecting low-carbon innovation. • The impact of digital transformation on LCI is explored from innovation motivations. • Management, R&D and environmental information disclosure capabilities are channels. • Heterogeneity is analyzed from enterprise size, industry monopoly and regional marketization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the popular development of the low-carbon economy, the "high energy consumption, high pollution, and high emissions" of the manufacturing industry have resulted in unprecedented difficulties in the development of this industry. To achieve nationally determined contribution targets, China has formulated a series of low carbon development plans for heavy industry to reduce carbon emissions. Among these, low-carbon technological innovation has been used a new means for manufacturing enterprises to achieve sustainable development, which is highly valued by management practice. Taking Chinese manufacturing companies as an example, the present study investigates the mediating effect of green core competence on the relationship between low-carbon technological innovation and enterprise performance and evaluates the moderating impact of firm size on this relationship. In this study, 438 valid data points were empirically analyzed, and the results indicate that low-carbon technological innovation significantly and positively affects enterprise performance of manufacturing. Green core competence plays a mediating role in the positive effect of low-carbon technological innovation on enterprise performance. Firm size has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between low-carbon technological innovation and enterprise performance. Meanwhile, firm size also moderates the relationship between low-carbon technological innovation and green core competence. Namely, a larger firm size correlates with a more positive effect on the cultivation of green core capabilities from the low-carbon technological innovation of manufacturing companies and in stronger enterprise performance. Finally, this work provides constructive guidance for Chinese manufacturing companies on how to practice low-carbon production and achieve sustainable development. [Display omitted] • Low-carbon technological innovation promotes enterprise performance of Chinese manufacturing. • We examined the model using a large sample of Chinese manufacturers. • This relationship is partially mediated by green core competence, and moderated by firm size. • Firm size exerts a positive moderating effect on low-carbon technological innovation and green core competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supported by preferential policies and government funding, the technological innovation of China's photovoltaic industry has been improved greatly. As a capital-intensive practice, will innovation activities in China's photovoltaic industry be affected by the continuous decline of government subsidies in recent years? Therefore, it is essential to study the relationship between government subsidies and innovation performance of Chinese photovoltaic industry. However, there is less empirical research on this topic. In this context, this study aims to supplement existing studies by proposing a micro-level perspective to measure the innovation performance based on the data of Chinese listed photovoltaic companies from 2012 to 2016. Moreover, we assess the effects of government subsidies and other influencing factors on innovation performance. The findings reveal that, firstly, the average innovation efficiency of Chinese listed photovoltaic companies is over 0.9, which is relatively high. Secondly, government subsidies make a positive influence on innovation performance. Thirdly, financial leverage and ownership concentration have significant positive impacts, while firm size has a significant negative effect on the innovation efficiency of China's photovoltaic industry. The findings will serve as a reference for policy-making to promote further technological progress and sustainable development of China's photovoltaic industry. • This paper estimates the innovation performance of China's photovoltaic industry based on the micro perspective. • This paper conducts a comprehensive analysis by a two-stage DEA-Tobit model. • The overall innovation efficiency of Chinese photovoltaic enterprises is high relatively but still has progress potential. • Government subsidies make a positive influence on technological innovation efficiency of China's photovoltaic industry. • The findings will serve as a reference for policy-making of government and enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]