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Corporate social responsibility(CSR) is becoming increasingly important in the field of corporate sustainability. However, despite the growing literature on CSR, there is a paucity of empirical evidence examining external environmental pressures. This paper aims to fill this gap by exploring the relationship between CSR and green exploratory innovation from the perspective of three types of environmental regulations: mandatory, market-driven, and voluntary regulations. Using Chinese-listed companies from 2010 to 2019 as original data, we examined the impacts of CSR on green exploratory innovation of firms and the moderating effects of the three regulations using a moderating effect model. The results concluded that CSR could significantly stimulate firms to engage in green exploratory innovation. Mandatory and market-driven regulations exhibited positive moderating effects, and market-driven regulations have a greater impact on CSR strategies. In contrast, voluntary regulations showed a negative moderating effect. Our study will be of great value to companies under external environmental pressure and will provide a new path to achieve sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore whether the over-reliance on political resources hampers corporate technological innovation and the role of environmental regulation in mitigating the adverse effect. A simplified theoretical framework is proposed to combine political ties, environmental regulations, and corporate innovation. Then, based on the data for listed private companies in China's heavy pollution industry, our empirical results show that political relations have negative impacts on both patent licensing and R&D investment, indicating the existence of a political resource curse in listed private companies in China's heavy pollution industry. The transmission mechanisms include mitigating market competition and inducing overinvestment, but increasing the rent-seeking motivation is not a channel through which political connections negatively affect corporate innovation. Further empirical analysis demonstrates that environmental regulations help eliminate the curse effect of political ties on technological innovation at the firm level in China, through increasing market competition and reducing overinvestment. The findings of this paper provide insights for optimizing environmental regulation policies, which are conducive to inducing technical innovation in politically connected enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) efficiency impacts corporate innovation, highlighting its role as a crucial indicator of resource utilization within firms. Analyzing data from A‐share listed companies in China between 2009 and 2021, we find that ESG efficiency levels are positively correlated with corporate innovation outputs. This indicates that higher ESG efficiency contributes to greater innovation. Our result also reveals that the relationship between ESG efficiency and corporate innovation is moderated by the firm's ownership structure. Specifically, the negative moderating effects of ownership are more pronounced in regions with lower economic development or stringent environmental regulations. Technology‐based firms are particularly affected, exhibiting greater vulnerability to these negative effects. These findings confirm that ESG efficiency is a significant mechanism linking ESG practices to enhanced innovation capabilities. By exploring both the efficiency aspects of ESG performance and the institutional factors influencing ESG‐innovation dynamics, our study makes a notable contribution to the literature, offering new insights into how effective ESG practices can strategically drive innovation within firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy inequality has been a hot topic in academia. This study first measures energy inequality in 25 Chinese provinces, and then investigates the interaction between financial inclusion and energy inequality. We also explore the potential impact mechanism behind the relationship. The primary findings reveal that: (i) Financial inclusion can help reduce energy inequality in China; moreover, the impact of financial inclusion varies according to regional consumption levels and environmental regulation. (ii) Technological innovation plays an important role in enhancing the ability of financial inclusion to reduce energy inequality. (iii) Fiscal revenue and energy consumption structure are two significant mediating factors through which energy inclusion affects energy inequality. (iv) Digital financial inclusion (DFI) has an inverted U-shaped impact on energy inequality. Overall, this research provides important insights into the impact of financial inclusion and offers several practical implications for reducing energy inequality in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of bank branch expansion on macroeconomic and micro-firm behaviour has been one of the primary focuses in related research fields. However, research has thus far ignored the unintended impact of the increased availability of credit resources on firms' pollution emissions. Therefore, based on firm-level data in China, we explore the impact of the availability of credit resources on firm pollution reduction. The empirical results of this study are as follows. (1) Increased availability of credit resources to firms can significantly reduce pollution emissions. This finding remains robust after a series of robustness tests. (2) The possible path to reduced emissions is through increasing capital investment in production and technological innovation, rather than increasing capital investment in governance. (3) The market access policy for small and medium-sized commercial bank branches further strengthens the effect of credit resource availability on pollution reduction. And the reduction effect is more significant for firms facing strong environmental regulations and weak economic target constraints. These findings provide a new perspective for enterprises to reduce emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms, especially heavy-polluting firms, are facing intense pressure from informal environmental regulations, which play a unique role in promoting heavy-polluting firms' green technology innovation (GTI). Communities and ENGOs are two important informal environmental regulation entities that have different influence mechanisms to stimulate heavy-polluting firms in GTI. The research results indicate that heavy-polluting firms' GTI follows an inverted U-shape as the number of communities around these firms increases, whereas it follows a positive linear correlation as the number of ENGOs increases. Interestingly, ownership types and administrative hierarchy distance positively moderate the curvilinear and linear relationships. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are more inclined to maintain their legitimacy by fulfilling communities' and ENGOs' environmental requirements than non-SOEs. A shorter administrative hierarchy distance means that firms are supervised by high-level governments. The autonomy effect of lower-level governments does not affect the vigorous enforcement of environmental policies, which also enhances these two relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article employs asymmetric configuration theory and methods to investigate how technological innovation drives regional green growth in China's complex environment. Specifically, the pooled QCA method is employed to identify multiple driving paths for technological innovation-driven regional green growth. Three configurations for high green growth have been identified: (1) a configuration with high IRD (internal R&D), non-high GS (government support), non-high TM (technology market), and non-high ER (environmental regulation) as core conditions; (2) a configuration with high IRD, non-high NRD (non-R&D) and non-high ER as core conditions complemented by high TM; and (3) a configuration with high levels of IRD, ERD (external R&D) and TM, and non-high ER as core conditions. Furthermore, high IRD is essential for green growth, while strict environmental regulations may be detrimental. This article offers a theoretical basis for adjusting innovation strategies or improving relevant policies to promote green growth in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The industrial sector is vital to economic progress, yet industrial pollution poses environmental and economic concerns. The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of green industrial transformation in reducing Pakistan's carbon intensity between 1975 and 2020. Carbon emissions are considered an endogenous construct, while foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, technological innovation, green industrial transformation, environmental legislation, and research and development (R&D) investment are possible mediators. The association between variables is assessed using the robust least-squares approach. Green industrial transformation is connected with lower carbon emissions, yet technical innovation, R&D investment, and inbound FDI raise a country's carbon emissions. The findings support the pollution haven hypothesis in a country. The causality estimates indicate that inward FDI contributes to environmental regulations; green industrial transformation directly relates to inbound FDI and R&D expenditures; and technological innovations correspond to inbound FDI, R&D expenditures, industrial ecofriendly progression, and environmental standards. According to the impulse response function, environmental policies are anticipated to have a differential effect on carbon emissions in 2023, 2024, 2028–2030, while they are likely to decrease in the years 2025–2027 and 2031 forward. Additionally, inward FDI and technology advancements would almost certainly result in a rise in carbon emissions over time. Green industrial transitions are projected to result in a ten-year reduction in carbon emissions. The variance decomposition analysis indicates that eco-friendly industrial adaptations would likely have the largest variance error shock on carbon emissions (11.747%), followed by inbound FDI, technological advancements, and regulatory changes, with R&D spending having a minimal impact over time. Pakistan's economy should foster a green industrial revolution to avoid pollution and increase environmental sustainability to meet its environmental goals.

From the perspective of configuration, this paper takes the region of manufacturing efficiency as the explanatory variable, selects eight antecedent conditions, and applies fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to study the paths and methods of improving manufacturing emission efficiency. The results of the study show that there are two configuration paths of carbon emission efficiency in manufacturing industry, namely, research frontier and technological innovation level and labour force structure, R&D investment, science and technology innovation level, manufacturing output value, and environmental regulation synergistic path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is at a critical moment of transforming high-speed development to high-quality development, and it is significant to improve the efficiency of green technological innovation. In this paper, under the perspective of two-stage innovation value chain, we construct the evaluation index system of green technology innovation efficiency, adopt the super efficiency SBM model to measure the green technology innovation efficiency of China's high-tech industries, and based on the results obtained, we assume the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method (fs-QCA) based on the group theory to explore the complex causal mechanism and grouping paths of the interaction between enterprises, government and market that affects the green technology innovation efficiency Mechanism and group path. The study results show that (1) enterprise, government, and market are not necessary conditions to influence the efficiency of green technological innovation, and even if a particular party plays a central role, it needs the assistance of other parties. (2) The improvement of green technological innovation efficiency requires the interaction of enterprises, government, and market, and even if any party does not have the core conditions, it can still produce high green technological innovation efficiency. (3) The path of the "innovative compensation" effect is identified, which indicates that enterprises will generate a high level of green innovation efficiency under sufficient investment brought about by the enterprise scale effect and matched with a good level of economic development. (4) The market economy-led pathway suggests that when the market economy is highly developed, firms do not need environmental regulation and government support to generate efficient levels of green technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional research has suggested that external environmental regulations and internal executive attitude are important factors. However, no in-depth study has yet to be conducted on the interaction between internal and external factors. This study constructs a model of the relationship between the different driving factors of eco-innovation from internal and external perspectives. By analyzing survey data covering 214 enterprises, this study explores the impact of environmental regulations on eco-innovation and further analyzes the moderating effect of the environmental awareness and commitment of top managers. Results show that, first, formal and informal environmental regulations and the environmental awareness and commitment of top managers have significant positive effects on eco-innovation. Second, the environmental awareness of top managers has no significant moderating effect on the relationship between environmental regulations and eco-innovation. Third, the environmental commitment of top managers has a significant positive moderating effect on the relationship between formal environmental regulations and eco-innovation. However, such environmental commitment has no significant moderating effect on the relationship between informal environmental regulations and eco-innovation. Finally, based on the empirical results, this study provides relevant managerial implications and policy suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of tightening resource and environmental constraints globally, it is urgent to promote enterprise's green technological innovation through environmental regulation. This paper uses the panel data of Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2019 to empirically test the relationship between environmental regulation and green technological innovation, and it also explores the transmission mechanism of executive compensation between these two. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) environmental regulation can promote enterprise green technological innovation. (2) Environmental regulation negatively influences the enterprise green technological innovation by reducing executive compensation. (3) The effect of environmental regulation on the promotion of green technological innovation of enterprise is higher in coastal areas than inland areas of China; while the effect of environmental regulation on the promotion of green technological innovation of enterprise is higher in state-owned enterprises than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of corporate scale on manufacturing corporate carbon efficiency (MCEE) using empirical analyses and diverse modeling techniques. The research begins with rigorous unit root and cointegration tests, confirming the stationary nature of the data and establishing long-term equilibrium relationships among the variables. Subsequently, benchmark regression analyses employing various models, including system GMM, reveal a robust and significantly positive association between corporate scale and MCEE. The findings emphasize that as corporate scale increases, there is a substantial enhancement in MCEE, attributed to expanded resources, technological advancements, and improved management systems. Robustness tests employing alternative approaches consistently reaffirm this positive correlation, further validating the pivotal role of corporate scale in augmenting MCEE. Furthermore, nonlinear analyses demonstrate varying impacts across different quantile levels of MCEE, highlighting the consistent positive correlation between corporate scale and MCEE. Additionally, the panel threshold model underscores the influence of environmental regulations, R&D investments, and trade openness on this relationship. Notably, stricter environmental regulations intensify the impact of corporate scale on MCEE, emphasizing the importance of corporate expansion in minimizing environmental costs and enhancing resource efficiency. These findings underscore the significance of corporate scale in driving corporate carbon efficiency. They advocate for corporations to not only expand their production capacities but also focus on optimizing management strategies and resource allocation, particularly in contexts influenced by environmental regulations, R&D investments, and trade openness. Overall, this research contributes comprehensive insights into understanding the dynamics governing corporate environmental efficiency and emphasizes the critical role of corporate scale in fostering environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As environmental challenges escalate, green development is crucial for sustainability. This study analyzes China's county-level agricultural green total factor productivity using SBM and ML index, introducing a comprehensive index to quantify the impact of different types of environmental regulations on productivity. The findings reveal the following: baseline analysis reveals that comprehensive environmental regulation notably boosts agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP), with regulatory intensity positively linked to productivity growth. Other factors like policy intervention, industrial structure, savings levels, and per capita GDP also favorably impact productivity. All three types of regulations, command, incentive, and voluntary type, substantially enhance AGTFP. The mediating effect test results show that all three types of regulations directly and positively impact AGTFP. Indirect effects vary: command-type regulation's mediating effect through independent R&D is significant, accounting for 39% of the impact. For incentive type, both industry structure upgrading (23.79%) and independent R&D (3.1%) mediate the effect. For voluntary type, technological advancement via independent R&D mediates about 13.0% of the impact. Heterogeneity analysis reveals distinct impacts of different environmental regulations on AGTFP across regions. Command-type regulation is most effective in the west, while in the central region, both command- and incentive-type regulations have similar promotional effects. In the east, incentive- and voluntary-type regulations show stronger impacts. Robustness tests, including endogeneity testing, dependent variable substitution, sample winsorizing, and model substitution, consistently confirm the baseline finding that environmental regulation significantly boosts AGTFP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst growing environmental challenges linked to coal dependence, fostering green innovation in new energy enterprises is vital for sustainable development in China. Although there have been studies on green innovation of new energy enterprises in recent years, few studies have been conducted from the perspective of ESG, whether informal environmental regulation represented by ESG can stimulate the green innovation of new energy enterprises is of great significance to China's construction of a low-carbon and secure energy system. In this paper, from the perspective of informal environmental regulation, based on the ESG ratings of SynTaoGreen Finance's first public newenergy listed companies as an exogenous shock, and taking A-share new energy listed companies as a sample from 2010 to 2021, we empirically verified the effect and mechanism of ESG ratings on the green innovation of new energy companies in terms of the quantity and quality of green innovations by utilizing the Staggered Difference-indifference (DID) model. The findings demonstrate that new energy enterprises' green patent numbers and quality are greatly enhanced by ESG grading. However, there is clear heterogeneity in this green innovation effect, which is particularly visible in new energy firms with state-owned enterprise and greater enterprise scales and a higher level of digitization. The Mechanistic findings suggest that ESG ratings drive green innovation by alleviating financial constraints, reducing agency risk, and boosting R&D, thus providing empirical evidence for the development of a green innovation ecosystem in the new energy industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the pressing issues of environmental deterioration and energy shortage that have accumulated in the extensive economic growth model, the Chinese government aims to enhance total factor productivity (TFP) by strengthening environmental regulations. The empirical findings on the impact of environmental regulation on TFP are relatively mixed. The literature exploring economic performance of different environmental regulations on TFP is scant; our study filled this gap and explored the microeffect of four categories of environmental policies on total factor productivity without considering natural factors and green total factor productivity (GTFP) considering natural factors based on China's provincial data from 2007 to 2017. The results illustrate that environmental regulation imposes a more significant positive impact on GTFP and different regulation policies can affect regional TFP through various paths. The administrative monitoring policies and public engagement policies exert more remarkable active effects on GTFP than other policies. Meanwhile, the existing environmental regulation promoted the sustainable development in the eastern and central areas, while failed to accelerate economic transformation in western area. Therefore, to better exert the incentive impact of green regulation on TFP, this study suggests that the government should enhance the eco-objective responsibility system, promote the marketization reform in resource areas, train more professional eco-friendly talent, foster public appreciation for nature conservation, and accelerate the industrial innovation of the midwestern regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the Porter hypothesis posits that well-functioning markets and government regulations can promote enterprise innovation, it remains less clear in developing and transition economies. To address this gap, we utilize enterprise data from China’s A-share market between 2005 and 2017 to empirically examine whether implementing more stringent environmental regulation will prompt regulated enterprises to engage in rent-seeking or innovative behavior. Our findings reveal that regulated enterprises increase both their rent-seeking and innovation efforts in response to environmental regulation. Importantly, enterprises exhibiting lower levels of rent-seeking demonstrate more substantial increases in rent-seeking expenditure when confronting environmental regulation. Furthermore, we discover that state-owned enterprises are more inclined to implement innovative behaviors, while foreign enterprises significantly reduce their innovative activities. This study highlights the complex relationship between environmental regulation and enterprise behavior in developing or transition economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The industrial sector is vital to economic progress, yet industrial pollution poses environmental and economic concerns. The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of green industrial transformation in reducing Pakistan's carbon intensity between 1975 and 2020. Carbon emissions are considered an endogenous construct, while foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, technological innovation, green industrial transformation, environmental legislation, and research and development (R&D) investment are possible mediators. The association between variables is assessed using the robust least-squares approach. Green industrial transformation is connected with lower carbon emissions, yet technical innovation, R&D investment, and inbound FDI raise a country's carbon emissions. The findings support the pollution haven hypothesis in a country. The causality estimates indicate that inward FDI contributes to environmental regulations; green industrial transformation directly relates to inbound FDI and R&D expenditures; and technological innovations correspond to inbound FDI, R&D expenditures, industrial ecofriendly progression, and environmental standards. According to the impulse response function, environmental policies are anticipated to have a differential effect on carbon emissions in 2023, 2024, 2028-2030, while they are likely to decrease in the years 2025-2027 and 2031 forward. Additionally, inward FDI and technology advancements would almost certainly result in a rise in carbon emissions over time. Green industrial transitions are projected to result in a ten-year reduction in carbon emissions. The variance decomposition analysis indicates that eco-friendly industrial adaptations would likely have the largest variance error shock on carbon emissions (11.747%), followed by inbound FDI, technological advancements, and regulatory changes, with R&D spending having a minimal impact over time. Pakistan's economy should foster a green industrial revolution to avoid pollution and increase environmental sustainability to meet its environmental goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the trend of synergistic development of digitalization and greening, this paper investigates the impact of enterprise digital transformation on audit fees and its mechanism, by using textual analysis and performing empirical tests on the data of Chinese listed companies from 2007 to 2021. It is found that enterprise digital transformation significantly increases audit fees, and green innovation partially mediates this process. The study results are robust, even after a series of robustness tests. When financing constraints and environmental regulations are low, the mediating role of green innovation between digital transformation and audit fees is more significant. In addition, green innovation has a stronger mediating role between the use of underlying technology and audit fees, while green substantive innovation has a stronger mediating role between digital transformation and audit fees. This study investigates the effect of enterprise digital transformation on audit fees from the standpoint of green innovation. It offers a new perspective on how accounting firms make audit pricing decisions, provides guidance for enterprise digital transformation and green innovation, and gives an opportunity for China to promote the synergistic transformation and development of digitalization and greening to achieve the dual-carbon goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coordinated efforts to reduce haze and carbon emissions are important in promoting global climate governance and sustainable development. In this paper, based on prefecture-level data of China from 2005 to 2019, we investigate the impact of environmental regulatory intensity on the emissions of the concentration of PM2.5 and carbon dioxide (CO2). The research indicates that environmental regulation facilitates synergistic governance for PM2.5 reduction and carbon mitigation. Green technological advancement emerges as the primary mechanism through which environmental regulation achieves haze reduction and carbon mitigation. This conclusion remains robust after a series of robustness tests. Furthermore, the results from quantile regression reveal that the haze reduction and carbon mitigation effects of environmental regulation are subject to certain conditional dependencies. Environmental regulation exhibits a significant negative impact on carbon emissions across various quantile points. However, their influence on different quantile levels of PM2.5 concentration displays an asymmetric pattern. Finally, threshold regression findings suggest that there is no significant threshold effect of environmental regulation on CO2 emissions, but there are dual threshold effects on the PM2.5 concentration. Therefore, it is recommended that local governments judiciously implement environmental regulatory intensity, establish interregional policies for haze reduction and carbon mitigation, and fully harness the driving force of green technology to promote a comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends the threshold regression to threshold effect in varying coefficient model. We allow for either cross-section or time series observations. Estimation of the regression parameters is considered. An asymptotic distribution theory for the regression estimates (the threshold and the regression slopes) is developed. The distribution of threshold estimates is found to be non-standard. Under some sufficient conditions, we show that the proposed estimator for regression slopes is root-n consistent and asymptotically normally distributed, and that the proposed estimator for the varying coefficient is consistent and also asymptotically normal distributed but at a rate slower than root-n. Consistent estimators for the asymptotic variances of the proposed estimators are provided. Monte Carlo simulations are presented to assess the performance of the asymptotic approximations. The empirical relevance of the theory is illustrated through an application to the relationship between environmental regulation and regional technological innovation study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the logistics industry's green total factor productivity (LGTFP) is a key source of power to achieve its high-quality development (HQD) in China. Technological innovation (TI) and environmental regulation (ER) policies are vital factors that affect the improvement of LGTFP. Although the impact of ERs or TI on LGTFP has been extensively researched, few studies have examined their combined effect. This study utilizes panel data from 30 Chinese provinces during 2006-2020 to estimate LGTFP using the Epsilon-based measure and global Malmquist-Luenberger index. Moreover, this study employs a dynamic spatial Durbin model to explore the influence of TI on LGTFP and its spatial spillovers, as well as the modulatory effect of ER in the relations between TI and LGTFP. The results show that (1) China's LGTFP displays positive spatial spillovers and is influenced by the preceding period's level. (2) In the short term, an improvement in TI levels had a positive effect on local LGTFP, but negative spillovers on neighboring districts. Nevertheless, in the long run, an improvement in TI levels had a notably negative influence on local LGTFP but positive spillovers on adjacent regions. (3) ER had an "inverted U-shaped" modulatory roles with spatial spillovers on the relations between TI and LGTFP in the long-term. These discoveries offer valuable insights into the coordinated development of TI systems and ER policies, enabling the formation of a policy system that aligns with the logistics industry's HQD in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the promotion of China's green development strategy and the policy of financial services to the real economy, how financialization affects corporate green innovation becomes an urgent issue to be explored. Using Chinese A-share listed enterprises from 2007 to 2020, this study empirically analyzes the impact of financialization on corporate green innovation and its underlying mechanism, and the moderating effect of heterogeneous environmental regulation is examined. Results show that financialization significantly inhibits corporate green innovation, and the command-and-control environmental regulation is more effective in weakening the inhibiting effect of financialization on corporate green innovation than market-incentivized and public-participation environmental regulation. Moreover, mechanism analyses show that financialization inhibits corporate green innovation mainly by affecting innovation input and financing constraints. Extended analyses show that the inhibiting effects of financialization on strategic and substantive green innovation of enterprises are not significantly different, but the inhibiting effect of financialization on independent green innovation is significantly higher than that on joint green innovation. In addition, the inhibiting effect of financialization on green innovation is more significant in non-heavy polluting industries and regions with high regulatory pressure. This study reveals the negative effects of financialization on corporate green innovation from a micro-finance perspective, which not only helps to improve the internal investment decisionmaking mechanism of companies and the regulatory system of corporate financialization, but also has some insights to guide the practice of green innovation of real enterprises and promote the green transformation of economic development mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses an SBM-GML index model to assess Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP) in China’s carbon-intensive sectors and conducts an empirical investigation into which factors influence GTFP in these sectors. The GTFP in the carbon-intensive sectors experienced a decline between 2006 and 2011, followed by an upward trend beginning in 2012. Technological progress was the primary driver of GTFP growth, while business size was also a notable contributor. Irrational energy structures negatively influenced the high-quality development of the carbon-intensive sectors, and environmental regulation and foreign direct investment (FDI) have not yet significantly impacted GTFP. Based on these findings, this paper suggests that the carbon-intensive sectors should expedite their green transitions by focusing on system improvement, technological innovations, energy revolutions, and high-level opening up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental non‐governmental organizations (ENGOs), as important civil society organizations in the environmental arena, play a role in promoting firms' environmental behavior. Based on institutional theory, this study constructed a relationship model among environmental ENGOs, environmental regulation, informatization level, and environmental innovation. Using data from 31 provinces in China from 2010 to 2021 as research samples, this study investigated the impact of ENGOs on firms' environmental innovation, as well as the mediating role of environmental regulation and the moderating role of the informatization level. The results showed that ENGOs had a positive effect on firms' environmental innovation, and the informatization level negatively moderated the impact of ENGOs on firms' environmental innovation, but environmental regulation did not play a mediating role in the relationship between ENGOs and firms' environmental innovation. Based on the conclusions, this study suggests leveraging the role of ENGOs, strengthening the power of environmental regulation, and improving the informatization level to drive firms' environmental innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of bank digitalization construction, this paper explores the impact and mechanism of bank digital transformation on corporate green innovation based on the data of listed enterprises from 2010 to 2021. It is found that bank digital transformation enhances the overall and strategic nature of corporate green innovation but has no significant impact on corporate substantive green innovation. The mechanism analysis shows that bank digital transformation can promote corporate green innovation by inhibiting corporate financialization and alleviating corporate financing constraints. Government environmental regulation and media attention have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between banks' digital transformation, and enterprises' green innovation, i.e., an increase in the level of government environmental regulation and an increase in media attention will strengthen the promotion effect of banks' digital transformation on enterprises' green innovation. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the promotion effect of banks' digital transformation on corporate green innovation is more significant for state- owned enterprises, heavily polluted enterprises, large-scale enterprises, and enterprises in the eastern region. Therefore, the digital transformation of banks can "empower" the green innovation of enterprises, help the green development of enterprises, and lead the high-quality development of the economy. At the same time, the study's results also show that the green development of enterprises should not be "superficial" but "substantial." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The upgrade of industrial structure is one type of momentum for improving urban ecological efficiency, and exploring the nexus between them can help implement the concept of green development. Using data from 284 cities in China between 2004 and 2019, this research employs a series of econometric models to examine how improving industrial structure contributes to the growth of urban ecological efficiency. The research results reveal that urban ecological efficiency can be significantly improved by industrial structure upgrade, while ecological efficiency is inhibited by low-quality GDP and financial development models and insignificantly decreased by industrial structure rationalization. In addition, industrial structure upgrading has failed to play a mediating role in promoting eco-efficiency through technological innovation and the reduction of pollutant emission intensity. Moreover, officials' turnover plays a negative moderating influence on the role of industrial upgrading in increasing ecological efficiency, while environmental regulation plays the opposite role. This study further conducts triple heterogeneity tests including city size, resource endowment, and regional heterogeneity, which provide a feasible way for further implementation of relevant policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green innovation is an essential support to realise sustainable development, while environmental regulation is an influential factor affecting green innovation, and different types of environmental regulation will have differentiated impacts on corporate green innovation. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the relationship between environmental regulation and green innovation and to explore mechanisms based on the institutional theory. Chinese manufacturing enterprises were selected as the study sample and empirically analysed using a multilayer linear regression model. The results show that command-and-control, market-incentive and voluntary environmental regulations all significantly and positively affect firms' green innovation, but voluntary environmental regulations are more effective; the level of digitalisation technology and the scope of digitalisation application are both conducive to firms' green innovation and play a partially mediating role between environmental regulations and green innovation. Based on these findings, this paper discusses the implications of regulation and provides an outlook for future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relentless advancement of digital technologies has the potential to significantly reshape the energy landscape as digital technologies become increasingly integrated into diverse sectors of the economy. This study explores the intricate relationship between digitalization and energy in EU countries, focusing on its direct and indirect impacts on energy consumption, structure, and intensity. Furthermore, this study explores the mediating mechanisms that facilitate these changes, including the role of technological innovation and government efficiency in the relationship between digitalization and energy outcomes. Focusing on EU countries and using the system-GMM method, this research accounts for the heterogeneity in the impact of digitalization on energy across various member states. It examines the varying effects in different countries, considering their income levels, environmental regulations, and green investments. The results demonstrate that the strategic deployment of digitalization in EU countries substantially benefits the energy sector. By optimizing energy consumption and enhancing the energy structure through the integration of renewable sources, the EU could move closer to its sustainability objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an effective means of addressing environmental externalities, market-based environmental regulation inevitably has potential effects on the economy. Based on Porter's theory, we investigate how emission charges affect firms' total factor productivity and explore the moderating role of firms' breakthrough technological innovation. Our findings reveal the moderating effect of breakthrough technological innovation on the total factor productivity enhancement of the emission fee by looking at Chinese A-share listed firms with heavy pollution from 2011 to 2020. Our mechanism tests suggest that emission fees and breakthrough technological innovation increase firms' total factor productivity by enhancing firms' green innovation. In addition, our heterogeneity analysis shows that emission charges and breakthrough technology innovation effectively increase total factor productivity only for state-owned firms, and the effect on total factor productivity of non-state-owned firms is insignificant. Our findings suggest that implementing market-based environmental regulations and incentives for firms to embark on breakthrough technological innovation effectively increases firms' total factor productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of innovations in green technology by enterprises is a decision‐making process that is subject to both external environmental pressures and internal factors. Using data from 4549 private companies in China, this study empirically analyzes the independent and joint effects of four forms of external environmental pressure and environmental commitment on green‐process innovation and green‐product innovation, respectively. The results show that the adoption of innovations in green technology by companies is affected by stakeholder pressure and does not change according to the type of green technology. The marginal effects of external environmental pressure on enterprises' innovations in green technology differ; this is reflected not only in the types of green technology innovation, but also in the types of pressure. Corporate environmental commitment positively moderates the relationship between external environmental pressure and green‐process innovation and the relationship between government‐led environmental regulation and green‐product innovation. However, the relationships between the other three external environmental pressures and green‐product innovation are not significant. This means that for different types of green technological innovation, there are variations in the extent of the synergy between external environmental pressures and corporate environmental commitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coupling coordination development of environmental regulation and scientific and technological innovation can provide strong support for economic growth and ecological civilization. This paper constructed the evaluation index system of environmental regulation and scientific and technological innovation, then measured the coupling coordination degree of environmental regulation and scientific and technological innovation in 30 Chinese provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) from 2009 to 2020, and finally analyzed the spatial and temporal distribution pattern of the coupling coordination degree. The results showed that the coupling coordination degree of environmental regulation and scientific and technological innovation in China showed an increasing trend, and the growth rate was characterized by "high in the west and low in the east". But the coupling coordination degree was low and had not yet reached the state of benign coupling coordination development. There are regional differences in the coupling coordination degree, with an overall spatial distribution pattern of "high in the east and low in the west, high in the south and low in the north". The high-level coupling coordination areas gradually expand from the eastern coast to the inland. According to the coupling coordination level and characteristics, Chinese provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) are divided into five categories, namely, innovation initiative mode, technological progress mode, environmental constraint mode, traditional passive mode and innovation lag mode, and it is proposed that environmental regulation should implement differentiated regional policies according to regional innovation capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of the digital economy (DE) on urban environmental quality (EQ) is a critical aspect of China's economic development. This study investigates the impact of DI on urban EQ using the data from prefecture-level cities spanning the period from 2011 to 2021 and updates some disparate conclusions of related studies. It is discovered that a non-linear correlation exists between DE and urban EQ. Currently, DE can effectively improve local city EQ. This conclusion remains valid even after robustness tests and endogeneity treatment. The impact of DE on improving EQ can be classified as the impact of technological innovation, industrial upgrading, resource allocation, infrastructure construction, environmental governance, and changes in public lifestyle. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the influence of DE is particularly pronounced in cities located in central and eastern regions of China, those with higher levels of administrative management, resource-based urban areas, and those with more stringent environmental regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive assessment of China's environmental performance (EP) and an investigation into its driving factors are essential prerequisites for advancing environmental protection efforts. However, existing studies have often exhibited a one-sided EP evaluation approach and lacked a systematic perspective. Consequently, this study has adopted a holistic approach by integrating environmental protection and pollution within the same theoretical framework. We have employed the "P-S-R" model to comprehensively assess the EP of 272 cities from 2003 to 2019. Concurrently, we have applied the spatial Durbin model to analyze EP drivers utilizing three spatial matrices. The findings of this study reveal several vital insights. Firstly, the mean EP value for China is 0.1138, indicating a low level, but it demonstrates a consistent upward trend over the years. When comparing cities with high EP, they are predominantly situated in northern China, northeastern China, and certain areas along the southeastern coast. Secondly, from a spatial perspective, the directionality of EP exhibits a trend from "northeast to the southwest," with the center of gravity located in and around Zhumadian, Henan Province, gradually shifting towards the northeast. The majority of cities fall within the H–H and L-L clusters, displaying significant positive spatial autocorrelation effects. Thirdly, EP drivers encompass a wide range of factors, including economic development, urbanization, resource dependence, industrial structure, infrastructure construction, environmental regulation, government regulatory capacity, scientific and technological innovation, and foreign direct investment. These drivers also exhibit significant spillover effects. Finally, the characteristics of EP development vary between resource-based cities (RBCs) and non-resource-based cities (non-RBCs), as well as among the eastern, central, and western regions. Moreover, there are disparities in the driving factors' direct, indirect, and overall effects. Consequently, we must propose tailored strategies and recommendations to enhance EP, considering the heterogeneous effects of influencing factors across different city types, regions, and collaboration approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How heavily polluting enterprises achieve sustainable development has become an urgent issue to be solved. Based on the data of Chinese heavily polluting listed enterprises during the period of 2010–2020, this paper adopts the probit method to examine how heterogeneous environmental regulations affect green merger and acquisition (GMA) decision, and propensity score matching and difference-in-differences method to explore innovation performance of GMA. The findings are as follows: (1) Command-and-control environmental regulation (CMCER) can promote GMA, while there exists a U-shaped relationship between market-based environmental regulation (MBER) and GMA; (2) from a dynamic perspective, it turns out that GMA can promote green innovation (GI) in the first and second post-acquisition year, but this effect disappears in the third year; (3) compared with CMCER, MBER has a more pronounced positive effect on the relationship between GMA and GI; (4) heterogeneous analysis indicates that the above GMA performance is more persistent when the acquirer is state-owned, with high media attention, with high internal control or engages in vertical GMA. The findings further enrich the literature on GMA driver and performance and provide references for optimizing ER policies and promoting corporate sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental protection is receiving more and more attention in China. Chinese government and society have implemented well-designed environmental regulations (ERs). While ERs have economic and environmental implications, whether they favor or stifle technological innovation is uncertain and shows paradoxical tension between different viewpoints. To reconcile it, this paper distinguishes three types of environmental regulations: Command-and-control environmental regulation (CER), market-based environmental regulation (MER), and Public-participation environmental regulation (PER). With data from Chinese A-share listed companies from 2008 to 2017, this study finds that CER and PER favor enterprise innovation, while MER does the opposite. Further analysis suggests that government subsidies positively moderate the influence of MER and PER on enterprise innovation. However, executive political experience negatively moderates the impact of three types of ERs on enterprise innovation. The heterogeneity analysis suggests that ERs' influence varies among enterprises with different life cycles and ownership, and in different regions and industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, China has actively engaged in pollution prevention and control efforts amidst growing environmental challenges. This review aims to provide an overview of China's historical milestones, current status, and evolving trends in environmental monitoring and enforcement, and findings in the recent literature. Despite persistent issues in enforcement and compliance, China has been making significant strides in tackling environmental challenges by adapting its institutions, designing effective policies, and leveraging technological advancements. Overall, this review underscores the importance of continued efforts to address environmental challenges in China and provides implications for developing countries in environmental monitoring and enforcement practices. The review also explores the emerging opportunities in policy and research in this domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conflict between rapid economic development, resource mismatch, and ecological damage is growing more severe. Industrial structure upgrading, as a bridge between economic activity and the ecological environment, is a crucial strategy for solving ecological and environmental problems. Based on the mediating effect and threshold models, this study selected 30 provincial panel data points in China from 2000 to 2020 to study the impact of environmental regulation and technological innovation on industrial structure upgrading. According to the findings, environmental regulation has a "U" shaped impact on industrial upgrading and passes the three threshold tests, with technological innovation playing a partially positive mediating role. There is regional heterogeneity in the impact of environmental regulation on industrial upgrading, with a "U" shaped impact on the eastern regions; there is inhibited industrial upscaling in the central and western areas. Foreign trade hinders industrial development in the eastern region but promotes rapid development and achieves structural adjustment in the central and western areas. The expansion of fixed asset investment hinders industrial restructuring. Government regulation can encourage industrial structure upgrading in all regions. We propose policy recommendations based on China's current situation. The development of technological innovation should be promoted, and environmental rules should be differentiated according to local conditions. This study has a certain guiding significance and reference value for balancing environmental governance and economic development, effectively implementing an innovation-driven development strategy, and formulating China's regional development strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the epoch of the digital economy, technological innovation and energy conservation are significantly facilitated by digital infrastructure, leading to substantial improvements in green innovation efficiency at the provincial level. This study employed the feasible generalized least square (FGLS) method to examine the effects of digital infrastructure on the green innovation efficiency across 30 provinces in the Chinese mainland, utilizing panel data from 2011 to 2020. Additionally, this investigation delves into the intervening role of industrial structure upgrading and the amplifying effects of environmental regulation and human capital on the process. Findings indicate that, to begin with, digital infrastructure contributes to the meaningful enhancement of green innovation efficiency within provinces. Subsequently, the industrial structure upgrading partially mediates the impact of digital infrastructure on the efficiency of provincial green innovation. Lastly, both human capital and environmental regulations amplify the beneficial influence of digital infrastructure on the effectiveness of green innovation at the provincial level. This study provides valuable insights into the mechanisms through which digital infrastructure boosts green innovation efficiency, aiding policymakers in formulating appropriate policies to augment digital infrastructure, thereby promoting provincial green innovation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the important forces promoting the development of the marine economy, the marine biomedical industry (MBI) shows typical knowledge and technology-intensive characteristics. It is of great significance to explore the industrial innovation dynamic mechanism for breaking through the bottleneck of innovative development as well as achieving high-quality development. This paper constructed a system dynamics model for scientific and technological innovation (STI) in the MBI and then explored the dynamic mechanism of STI in the industry through simulation. The study found that, in the innovation environment subsystem, the two factors of the intellectual property protection intensity and the government's scientific research funding input had the most significant positive driving effects on STI of the MBI; the promotion of government education funding input showed a significant strengthening trend over time, while the marine environmental regulation intensity had comparatively little effect on the level of STI. In the subsystem of innovation input, both innovation funding input and innovation personnel input were the direct driving forces for the improvement of the STI level. And enterprises played a dominant role in STI because the STI level of the MBI was more sensitive to the changes in enterprise innovation input. Compared with the individual factor input, the synergistic promotion effect of multiple factors is more significant. In addition, it was found that there was a low conversion rate of scientific research achievements in China's MBI by analyzing the influence of various factors changing on technological output and economic output. Based on the research results, this paper puts forward corresponding policy suggestions in order to provide theoretical support and a practical basis for promoting the technological innovation level of China's MBI as well as references for other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of the Environmental Protection Tax Law was seriously affected by strict pandemic control. The Environmental Protection Tax Law imposed environmental taxes on enterprises based on measuring their pollution emissions to restrain their bad environmental behaviour and stimulate their green technological innovation ability. However, during the pandemic control period, the green technological innovation ability of enterprises was not developed. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the environmental regulation effect of the environmental protection tax. This study is based on sample data covering heavily polluting enterprises in China collected from December 20, 2022, to January 7, 2023. It finds that the follow cost effect existed, but the value compensation effect obviously declined, which leading to a decline in the green technological innovation ability of heavily polluting enterprises. The study shows that although strict pandemic control maintained the environmental protection function of the environmental protection tax, it weakened the economic driving function, which will not only damage the long-term economic development potential but also make the environmental protection function unsustainable. [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]

When the incentive mechanism of green finance fails to fully promote green technology innovation in industrial enterprises, local government environmental regulations become an important tool in correcting this market failure. However, due to the "follow the cost" hypothesis, the moderating effect of the local government environmental regulation is heterogeneous. In order to explore the impact mechanism of green finance development on the efficiency of green technology innovation in industrial enterprises, spatial effects as well as the heterogeneous moderating effect of local government environmental regulation, this paper systematically evaluates the development level of green finance in 30 provinces in China from 2009 to 2019. It estimates the efficiency of green technology innovation in industrial enterprises using the super-efficiency SBM model, and empirically analyzes the impact mechanism and moderating effect using the spatial Durbin model. The results show that: (1) green finance not only positively impacts the efficiency improvement of green technology innovation in industrial enterprises but also has significant spatial spillover effects; (2) local government environmental regulation has a nonlinear "inverted U-shaped" moderating effect between the green finance development and the efficiency of green technology innovation in industrial enterprises. Based on the research conclusions, this paper proposes policy recommendations from the perspectives of deepening the regional connectivity of green finance and promoting joint regulation by local governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green innovation constitutes an essential and effective way to realise the green transition of industrial growth. With the transformation of the industrial structure from the 'single-wheel drive' of the manufacturing to the 'two-wheel drive' of the manufacturing and the modern services, manufacturing and producer services industrial coagglomeration (hereinafter referred to as 'industrial coagglomeration') is receiving increasing attention from scholars. However, few empirical analyses have investigated the impact of industrial coagglomeration on regional green innovation. Using a unique and manually collected city-level dataset for 277 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2017, this study examines the impact of industrial coagglomeration on regional green innovation, and the moderating effect of human capital and environmental regulation on this relationship. The results indicate that industrial coagglomeration has an inverted U-shaped relationship with regional green innovation. Moreover, human capital and environmental regulation positively moderate the effect of industrial coagglomeration on regional green innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the two-stage innovation value chain model, incorporating environmental regulation policies and three-waste emissions into the research framework, constructing a green technology innovation efficiency evaluation index system from the perspectives of green inputs and outputs, and utilizing the super-efficiency SBM model and the Malmquist-Luenberger index model, assessing the effectiveness of green technological innovation in two aspects, namely, static, and dynamic, respectively. The results show that: the average value of green technical innovation efficiency of China's hightech industries is 0.5277, with significant differences between provinces, but the overall is constantly improving, showing an upward trend; the green technological innovation efficiency decreases from east to west, and the differences among the three major regions are not only embodied in spatial patterns, but also in the growth rate; during the period of investigation, the inefficient provinces are gradually decreasing, and the level of green technological innovation of China is constantly getting better; China's The average value of ML index of green technical innovation efficiency of high-tech industries in China is greater than 1, and the overall development trend is better; the increase of ML index in the eastern and central regions mainly relies on the positive influence of technological efficiency, while the decrease of ML index in the western part is affected by the recession of technological progress and technological efficiency, and the efficiency of technology research and development stage is generally higher than that of scientific and technical achievements transformation stage, and low efficiency of achievements transformation stage is mainly affected by the inhibiting effect of technological progress - inhibitory effect of technological advancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental audit is regarded as a kind of voluntary regulation and an important tool for environmental certification. This paper aims to investigate the impact of environmental audit on innovation strategy of enterprise in the short and long term, separately. Samples and dataset are established by 437 listed companies in China and their business and environmental data from 2009 to 2020, respectively. To identify the innovation strategy accurately, the innovation strategy of enterprise is divided into technology introduction, independent innovation, and technology cooperation. Environmental audit is selected as a proxy variable of voluntary environmental regulation. The results show that environmental audit positively affects technology introduction, independent innovation, and technology cooperation. Further, the sample companies are divided into two groups according to pollution intensity, and it finds that high-pollution enterprises are more inclined to technology cooperation and technology introduction in the short term. For these enterprises, they will not continue to upgrade technology in the long term after meeting environmental requirements. For low-pollution enterprises, the positive effect of environmental audit on innovation strategy is sustained, no matter in the long or short term. Besides, low-pollution enterprises are more focused on technology introduction and technology cooperation in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agglomeration of financial resources is generally considered to encourage business practices that promote green innovation. In addition, green innovation is also subject to firms' location and may exhibit significant spatial effects. However, most studies failed to consider the complex association between financial resources and green innovation from the lens of geographical proximity. This paper scrutinizes the influence of geographical proximity of financial resources on green innovation with the case of Chinese listed firms. It critically examines the role of trade‐offs between competitive and substitution effects triggered by geographical proximity in this complex relationship. The findings demonstrate that the geographical proximity of financial resources affects firms' trade‐offs between competitive and substitution effects, changing their green innovation activities. In addition, green innovation and distance to financial centers have an inverted U‐shaped association, suggesting an optimal location between the firm and financial centers conducive to green innovation. Finally, internal ownership reinforces the effect of geographical proximity of financial resources on green innovation, while external environmental regulation weakens this effect. Therefore, this paper extends the existing green innovation theory from the lens of geographic proximity. This can help us better understand the influence of geographic proximity of financial resources on green innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the data of Chinese listed companies from 2008 to 2019, selects a space autoregressive difference-in-difference model (SAR-DID) to research environmental regulation policies on corporate green innovation, and empirically tests the impact of Energy Consumption Rights Trading (ECRT), Environmental Protection Interview (EPI), and the simultaneous implementation of the two policies (ECRT and EPI). The research results show that enterprise green innovation has produced a positive spatial spillover effect. The implementation of ECRT has a positive effect on corporate green innovation and has a long-term effect, while the implementation of EPI also has a positive effect on corporate green innovation, but the effect is "immediate" and less pronounced and lasting than ECRT. The promotion effect of ECRT and EPI is higher than the net effect of the two policies, but it will weaken over time. The promotion effect of environmental regulation policies on corporate green innovation is more concentrated in the eastern regions and non-heavy polluting industries. Therefore, China should implement both ECRT and EPI simultaneously, with ECRT in the first place and EPI in the second, and actively explore ways to keep the policies effective in the long-term. Depending on the incentive impact of environmental regulations in different regions and industries, differentiated environmental regulations should be applied to promote the technological transformation of enterprises and strengthen green innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using dynamic game analysis, a theoretical framework is constructed to investigate the impact of environmental regulations on corporate financial performance. A sample of 3021 A-share listed companies, listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2010 to 2018, is used for empirical testing with GMM model. Through the matching of regional data and enterprise data, this paper expands the measurement of environmental regulation from meso to micro and then, systematically estimates the impact and mediating effect of environmental regulation on corporate financial performance. The results show that environmental regulation policies and instruments are important factors influencing corporate financial performance and that the main way to improve the efficiency of environmental regulation is to encourage firms to carry out pollution control through technological innovation. The empirical results not only show that environmental regulations can facilitate the upgrading of corporate financial performance, but also that technological innovation, especially green technology innovation, also partially mediates the effect of environmental regulations in promoting corporate financial performance. At the same time, the impact of environmental regulations on corporate financial performance is both constrained and influenced by corporate ownership, industry classification and city level. Environmental regulations are more likely to improve the corporate financial performance of non-state-owned companies than that of state-owned companies. Environmental regulation significantly boosts corporate financial performance in clean industries, but significantly depresses corporate financial performance in polluting industries. Compared with higher-level cities, environmental regulations only facilitate improvements to corporate financial performance in ordinary prefecture-level cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on upper echelons theory (UET), we examine whether and how chief executive office (CEO) marketing experience affects firm green innovation. Using a sample of Chinese‐listed manufacturing firms from 2008–2020 and hand‐collected data on CEO marketing experience, we find a positive relationship between CEOs' marketing experience and corporate green innovation. The positive relationship is robust after a series of robustness tests. Our further investigations reveal that the positive relationship is more pronounced when firms face higher‐level media coverage and stricter local environmental regulations. In addition, using textual analysis, we also find that market‐oriented culture plays a critical mediating role in this positive relationship. These findings enrich the relevant literature on strategic leadership and green innovation and are essential for companies and policymakers in developing green innovation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]