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Article

From Green to Adaptation: How Does a Green Business Environment Shape Urban Climate Resilience?

1
College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
2
School of International Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
3
School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
4
Division of Research and Innovation, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Systems 2025, 13(8), 660; https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13080660 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 5 July 2025 / Revised: 29 July 2025 / Accepted: 1 August 2025 / Published: 4 August 2025
(This article belongs to the Section Systems Practice in Social Science)

Abstract

Strengthening climate resilience constitutes a foundational approach through which cities adapt to climate change and mitigate associated environmental risks. However, research on the influence of economic policy environments on climate resilience remains limited. Guided by institutional theory and dynamic capability theory, this study employs a panel dataset comprising 272 Chinese cities at the prefecture level and above, covering the period from 2009 to 2023. It constructs a composite index framework for evaluating the green business environment (GBE) and urban climate resilience (UCR) using the entropy weight method. Employing a two-way fixed-effect regression model, it examined the impact of GBE optimization on UCR empirically and also explored the underlying mechanisms. The results show that improvements in the GBE significantly enhance UCR, with green innovation (GI) in technology functioning as an intermediary mechanism within this relationship. Moreover, climate policy uncertainty (CPU) exerts a moderating effect along this transmission pathway: on the one hand, it amplifies the beneficial effect of the GBE on GI; on the other hand, it hampers the transformation of GI into improved GBEs. The former effect dominates, indicating that optimizing the GBE becomes particularly critical for enhancing UCR under high CPU. To eliminate potential endogenous issues, this paper adopts a two-stage regression model based on the instrumental variable method (2SLS). The above conclusion still holds after undergoing a series of robustness tests. This study reveals the mechanism by which a GBE enhances its growth through GI. By incorporating CPU as a heterogeneous factor, the findings suggest that governments should balance policy incentives with environmental regulations in climate resilience governance. Furthermore, maintaining awareness of the risks stemming from climate policy volatility is of critical importance. By providing a stable and supportive institutional environment, governments can foster steady progress in green innovation and comprehensively improve urban adaptive capacity to climate change.
Keywords: green business environment; urban climate resilience; green technological innovation; climate policy uncertainty; intermediary mechanism; moderating effect green business environment; urban climate resilience; green technological innovation; climate policy uncertainty; intermediary mechanism; moderating effect

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Li, L.; Zhen, X.; Ma, X.; Ma, S.; Zuo, J.; Goodsite, M. From Green to Adaptation: How Does a Green Business Environment Shape Urban Climate Resilience? Systems 2025, 13, 660. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13080660

AMA Style

Li L, Zhen X, Ma X, Ma S, Zuo J, Goodsite M. From Green to Adaptation: How Does a Green Business Environment Shape Urban Climate Resilience? Systems. 2025; 13(8):660. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13080660

Chicago/Turabian Style

Li, Lei, Xi Zhen, Xiaoyu Ma, Shaojun Ma, Jian Zuo, and Michael Goodsite. 2025. "From Green to Adaptation: How Does a Green Business Environment Shape Urban Climate Resilience?" Systems 13, no. 8: 660. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13080660

APA Style

Li, L., Zhen, X., Ma, X., Ma, S., Zuo, J., & Goodsite, M. (2025). From Green to Adaptation: How Does a Green Business Environment Shape Urban Climate Resilience? Systems, 13(8), 660. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13080660

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