Search Results (98)

Improving green innovation quality is a critical component for speeding green transformation and generating high-quality growth. This study examines the link between the pilot zone for green finance reform and innovations (PZGFRI) policy and the quality of green innovation in Chinese A-share listed firms from 2010 to 2020. This study demonstrates that the PZGFRI may greatly enhance the quality of enterprises’ green innovation. Additionally, by promoting environmental investment and reducing financial barriers, we use the mediating effect model to confirm that the PZGFRI improves the enterprises’ quality of green innovation. Meanwhile, the heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that the PZGFRI is more successful in raising the green innovation quality in state-owned, large-sized, and heavily polluting businesses. Our study’s findings offer a strong theoretical basis for improving the PZGFRI and encouraging businesses to undergo high-quality transformation. Full article

This study uses financial data from 872 Chinese listed companies (2018–2022). It tests the triple dividend effect and threshold effect of China’s environmental protection tax (EPT) using high-dimensional fixed effects models and panel threshold models. We document that (1) EPT creates an environmental dividend for Chinese listed companies. It significantly reduces pollution emissions. A 1-unit tax increase reduces LnTPPE by 2.5%. (2) EPT creates a significant innovation dividend. It forces enterprises to improve the quality of authorized patents. A 1-unit tax increase raises patent technological complexity by 0.79%. (3) EPT creates an economic dividend. It significantly improves firm performance. A 1-unit tax increase raises relative corporate revenue by 38.1%. (4) EPT exerts significant threshold effects on micro-level triple dividend outcomes among Chinese listed companies. A heterogeneity analysis shows significant differences in threshold effects between non-heavily polluting and heavily polluting industries. This study confirms that China’s EPT generates a micro-level triple dividend effect alongside coexisting threshold effects for listed companies. This provides literature references for China to design and implement differentiated policies and offers a quantitative empirical case for implementing globally sustainable EPT strategies. Full article

This study investigates the effect of the Green Finance Reform Pilot Zone Policy (GFRPZP) on corporate sustainable development performance (SDP) using a multi-period difference-in-differences (DIDs) regression model. This model incorporates control variables, reflecting firm-level characteristics and regional economic conditions. The results show that GFRPZP significantly enhances corporate SDP, with stronger effects observed among non-state-owned enterprises (Non-SOEs), companies situated in eastern regions, those in non-heavily polluting industries, and high-tech companies. Mediation analysis indicates that the policy enhances sustainable development through four main channels: improving the quality and quantity of green innovation, easing financing constraints, and increasing analyst attention. Moderation analysis further demonstrates that digital transformation and internal control strengthen the policy’s effect. Full article

China’s national strategies emphasize both achieving carbon peaking and neutrality (“dual carbon” objectives) and fostering high-quality economic development. This dual focus highlights the critical importance of the Green and Low-Carbon Transition (GLCT) of the economy and the development of New Quality Productive Forces (NQPF). Firms are central actors in this transformation, prompting the core research question: How does corporate engagement in GLCT contribute to the formation of NQPF? We investigate this relationship using panel data comprising 33,768 firm-year observations for A-share listed companies across diverse industries in China from 2012 to 2022. Corporate GLCT is measured via textual analysis of annual reports, while an NQPF index, incorporating both tangible and intangible dimensions, is constructed using the entropy method. Our empirical analysis relies primarily on fixed-effects regressions, supplemented by various robustness checks and alternative econometric specifications. The results demonstrate a significantly positive relationship: corporate GLCT robustly promotes the development of NQPF, with dynamic lag structures suggesting delayed productivity realization. Mechanism analysis reveals that this effect operates through three primary channels: improved access to financing, stimulated collaborative innovation and enhanced resource-allocation efficiency. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the positive impact of GLCT on NQPF is more pronounced for state-owned enterprises (SOEs), firms operating in high-emission sectors, those in energy-efficient or environmentally friendly industries, technology-intensive sectors, non-heavily polluting industries and companies situated in China’s eastern regions. Overall, our findings suggest that corporate GLCT enhances NQPF by improving resource-utilization efficiency and fostering innovation, with these effects amplified by specific regional advantages and firm characteristics. This study offers implications for corporate strategy, highlighting how aligning GLCT initiatives with core business objectives can drive NQPF, and provides evidence relevant for policymakers aiming to optimize environmental governance and foster sustainable economic pathways. Full article

Achieving high-level green technological innovation in heavily polluting enterprises is critical for advancing sustainable development, particularly in the context of both organizational and regional digitalization. This study adopts a configurational perspective grounded in the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) framework and integrates theoretical insights from resource orchestration, resource dependence, and IT capability theories. It investigates how different types of skilled talent, such as production, technical, sales, and managerial employees, contribute to green innovation under varying digital conditions. By applying fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to a sample of 96 publicly listed firms from China’s heavily polluting industries, this study identifies four distinct talent-based configurations that can lead to high levels of green innovation: production-centric, management-led, technical talent driven, and regionally enabled models. Each configuration reflects a specific system state in which a core group of skilled employees plays a leading role, supported by complementary functions, and shaped by the interaction between internal digital transformation and the external digital environment. This study contributes to the systems literature by elucidating the combinational roles of digital resources and talent deployment within the systemic TOE framework, and offers practical guidance for enterprises aiming to strategically utilize human capital to enhance green innovation performance amid ongoing digital transformations. Full article

Against the backdrop of the accelerated transition to sustainable development in global emerging markets, the synergistic mechanism between environmental governance innovation and corporate green transformation has become a key issue in realizing high-quality development. As the world’s largest emerging economy, China’s new Environmental Protection Law (EPL), implemented in 2015, has promoted green technology innovation and performance improvement of heavily polluting enterprises by strengthening environmental regulation. This paper takes Chinese A-share listed companies as samples from 2012–2023, treats the EPL as a quasi-natural experiment, and applies the DID method to explore the path of its impact on the performance of heavily polluting firms, with a focus on analyzing the mediating effect of green technological innovation and the moderating role of firm size and regional differences. The study revealed the following findings: the implementation of the EPL significantly improves the performance of heavily polluting enterprises, which verifies the applicability of “Porter’s hypothesis” in emerging markets; green technological innovation plays a partly intermediary role in the process of policy affecting enterprise performance, indicating that environmental regulation achieves win–win economic and environmental benefits by driving the innovation compensation mechanism; and there is significant heterogeneity in policy effects, with large-scale firms and firms in the eastern region experiencing more pronounced performance improvements, reflecting differences in resource endowments and institutional implementation strength within emerging markets. This study provides empirical evidence for emerging market countries to optimize their environmental governance policies and construct a “regulation–innovation–performance” synergistic mechanism, which will help green economic transformation and ecological civilization construction. Full article

Numerous studies have examined how environmental restrictions affect innovation behavior; however, there has not been enough research focused on how public environmental concerns affect green innovation. This paper utilizes panel data of 4607 Chinese A-share listed companies (29,877 firm-year observations) over the period of 2011–2022 and constructs a dual fixed-effects model to investigate the impact of public environmental concern (PEC) on green innovation quality. Furthermore, we explore the mechanisms underlying this influence through the lenses of external pressure and internal motivation, and the moderating effect of digital transformation. The findings reveal the following: (1) Public concern about environmental issues is positively correlated with the green innovation quality. For every 1% increase in PEC, the companies’ green innovation quality will increase by 0.013%. (2) PEC forces firms to improve the green innovation quality through pressure from institutional investors, while pushing firms to boost the green innovation quality by stimulating ESG performance. (3) Digital transformation reinforces the impact of PEC on the green innovation quality. (4) PEC is more sensitive to the impact of green innovation quality in high-tech and non-heavy-polluting companies, and the enhancement effect is more pronounced in the eastern and western districts. Besides expanding the insights into the factors influencing the green innovation quality, this study also gives pragmatic guidance for governments and companies to enhance the green innovation quality, address environmental challenges, and achieve sustainable development. Full article

As China enters a high-quality development stage, balancing economic growth and environmental sustainability is essential. Can industrial intelligence reconcile these goals? Using theoretical modeling, this paper integrates production decisions, pollution emissions, and environmental regulations to construct a micro-level analytical framework incorporating technology choice and emission reduction investment. It theoretically explores how robot adoption affects firms’ emission reduction behaviors and empirically tests the model using data from Chinese listed companies (2011–2022). Results indicate that industrial robots significantly reduce firms’ pollution emission intensity through productivity boost, technological progress, and emission reduction effects. Additionally, heterogeneity analyses show that robots have stronger pollution-reducing impacts in heavily polluting industries, state-owned enterprises, and regions with stringent environmental regulations. Therefore, policymakers should encourage robot adoption based on local contexts, formulate differentiated environmental regulations, and implement targeted strategies to maximize robots’ emission reduction potential. Accelerating green and intelligent transformation of enterprises will further align ecological protection with sustainable economic and social development. Full article

In response to urban digital intelligence transformation (DIT) and the rising global emphasis on corporate carbon performance (CP), this study leverages the “National New-Generation AI Innovation Development Pilot Zones” (NAIPZs) as a quasi-natural experiment. Utilizing an unbalanced panel of A-share listed firms from China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges between 2010 and 2022, this study employs a multi-period Difference-in-Differences (DID) model combined with propensity score matching (PSM-DID) to examine how urban DIT affects corporate CP and its underlying mechanisms. The results indicate that the policy significantly enhances corporate CP, with robustness confirmed through parallel trend, placebo, and PSM-DID tests. Heterogeneity analysis shows stronger effects for non-state-owned enterprises, high-pollution industries, and large enterprises. Mechanism analysis reveals that green technological innovation and R&D expenditure are key drivers of improved CP. The study concludes with policy suggestions including tailored regulation, the development of innovation platforms, strengthened R&D support, and the implementation of monitoring systems to better harness AI technologies for improving corporate carbon performance. Full article

Intensifying challenges posed by global warming have elevated the urgency of improving corporate carbon performance and curbing carbon emissions. Green financial instruments serve a vital function in advancing corporate transitions toward environmentally responsible and low-carbon operational models. This research explores the influence of green funds on carbon performance at the firm level, aiming to clarify the micro-level mechanisms through which green financial instruments promote low-carbon development. The study utilizes data from Chinese listed companies spanning 2012 to 2021 and employs a TWFE regression model to empirically assess the effects. The findings indicate that green funds contribute to improved carbon performance. Furthermore, this effect is positively moderated by executive green awareness and financial background, indicating that managerial cognition and experience play a vital role in amplifying the benefits of green finance. Notably, green funds exert a stronger positive effect in highly polluting industries, suggesting that green financial resources should be directed not only to low-emission sectors but also to high-emission ones to improve their carbon efficiency. These findings extend existing literature by offering firm-level evidence on the effectiveness of green financial instruments and underscore the importance of targeted policy support to encourage green upgrading across all industry types. Full article

Sustained green innovation in firms is a crucial driver of sustainable economic development. Chief executive officer (CEO) openness, as a key personality trait related to leadership effectiveness, has an important but largely overlooked impact on sustained green innovation. This study aims to explore the impact of CEO openness on sustained green innovation and its boundary conditions. Using data from Chinese A-share-listed firms between 2011 and 2023, we find that CEO openness has a significant positive impact on sustained green innovation in firms. The moderating effects reveal that both digitalization level and CEO shareholding strengthen the positive effect of CEO openness on sustained green innovation. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that this positive effect is more pronounced in state-owned enterprises, firms in non-heavily polluting industries, and those with high analyst coverage. These findings provide theoretical support for understanding the determinants of sustained green innovation through the lens of CEO personality. They also enrich the growing literature on the impact of CEO openness on corporate decision-making. Furthermore, this study recommends that firms prioritize CEO openness in selection, enhance digital infrastructure, and improve equity incentive measures to ultimately foster sustained green innovation. Full article

Green technological innovation represents one of the critical driving forces for addressing environmental issues and advancing the sustainable development process. As a key driver of the new round of technological transformation, artificial intelligence is bound to exert significant impacts on firms’ green technological innovation. In this study, green technology innovation is divided into clean production and pollution control technology innovation according to the production link. A double fixed-effects model was used to test the impact of AI using data from Chinese listed companies from 2006 to 2020. The research findings are as follows: First, artificial intelligence has a significant contribution to green technology innovation in different segments. Second, mechanism analysis reveals that artificial intelligence enhances green technological innovation by improving human capital caliber and firm efficiency. Third, heterogeneity analysis shows that the greater the intensity of environmental regulation a firm faces, the greater the incentive for the firm to use AI for green technology innovation; its effect on pollution control technological innovation is more significant for firms in high-pollution industries; and its effect on clean production technological innovation is more prominent for enterprises in low-pollution industries. Full article

The influence of digital transformation on ESG performance has garnered considerable interest; however, previous research in this area has not adequately considered the influence of environmental uncertainty factors. This study utilized a dataset comprising Chinese A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2023 to explore how environmental uncertainty affects the correlation between digital transformation and ESG performance. Furthermore, we also examined potential pathways and heterogeneity. Our findings demonstrate that digital transformation significantly enhances ESG performance, with the positive effects persisting for up to three years post-implementation, although gradually diminishing in intensity. However, environmental uncertainty substantially reduces this positive impact across all pivotal technologies. Improvements in ESG performance are more pronounced in firms that are high-tech, technology-intensive, and capital-intensive and that do not produce heavy pollution. Quantile regression reveals that firms in the upper–middle ESG performance range benefit most. Our mediation analysis confirms that digital transformation enhances ESG performance by increasing firm value, media attention, and analyst coverage. Overall, this study contributes to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence of the impacts of environmental uncertainty. These findings provide strategic guidance for companies navigating digital transformation initiatives in turbulent business environments, while also offering concrete recommendations for regulatory authorities developing ESG disclosure frameworks and digital infrastructure investment priorities tailored to different uncertainty conditions. Full article

Family businesses play a vital role in the global economy as an organizational form that has evolved over time. However, Chinese family firms generally suffer from insufficient investment in research and development. Based on panel data of Chinese listed family firms from 2008 to 2022, this study investigates the impact of government green subsidies on family firms’ green innovation, along with the heterogeneity of such effects under different scenarios. The results show that government green subsidies significantly promote both strategic and substantive green innovation. The moderating effect analysis reveals that economic policy uncertainty weakens the baseline effect. Further analysis confirms that the positive impact of green subsidies is achieved by alleviating firms’ R&D funding constraints. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that green subsidies have a stronger effect on non-heavily polluting firms; they promote substantive green innovation more effectively in firms with low managerial green cognition, and strategic green innovation in those with high cognition. Additionally, the effects vary across the firm life cycle: green subsidies enhance strategic green innovation during the growth and maturity stages, and substantive green innovation during the growth and decline stages. This study reveals the mechanisms through which government green subsidies affect green innovation in family firms and offers policy implications for promoting sustainable development in the family business sector. Full article

The Industry–Finance Collaboration Pilot (IFCP) integrates governmental green guidance with digital collaboration platforms to promote non-equity-based cooperation between industrial and financial sectors. Using a Difference-in-Differences (DID) approach and a sample of A-share listed industrial firms on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2011 to 2023, this study examines the IFCP’s impact on corporate green innovation (GI). Results show that the IFCP increases the number of green patent applications by 7.5% on average, indicating its effect in stimulating GI. This effect operates through two main mechanisms. First, under governmental green guidance, the IFCP encourages local green fiscal subsidies, increases green investor participation, improves environmental information disclosure, and lowers agency costs. Second, through digital finance empowerment, it mitigates information asymmetry and transaction costs in financial activities, thereby reducing credit costs and enhancing firms’ access to green credit. The effect of the IFCP on GI is more pronounced in regions with stricter environmental regulation, in pollution-intensive industries, and among firms with smaller asset sizes. Further analysis indicates that the IFCP primarily stimulates tactical, low-value GI driven by compliance or opportunistic motives, rather than promoting substantive, high-quality innovation. This study provides empirical evidence and policy insights into how governmental green guidance and digital finance empowerment can jointly promote green industrial development. Full article