Whether green technology innovation is conducive to haze emission reduction: empirical evidence from China

Fintech, green imports, technology, and FDI inflow: their role in CO2 emissions reduction and the path to COP26: a comparative analysis of China

This study uses a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model to investigate the relationships between CO2 emissions, green energy imports, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow, and financial technology (fintech) in China. It examines both short- and long-term asymmetries, reflecting the positive and negative effects of variables of interest on CO2 emissions. The results indicate that increasing fintech and green energy imports will decrease environmental pollution, as fintech and green technology negatively affect CO2 emissions in a positive shock and have positive effects in a negative shock. We also found that imports negatively affected CO2 emissions in the context of green energy imports. However, FDI inflows have conflicting outcomes, being positively beneficial during positive shocks and adversely significant during negative shocks. Moreover, green energy imports led to a considerable increase in CO2 emissions during negative shocks. These findings highlight the importance of considering economic factors when developing environmental regulations. Policy recommendations for COP26 include fostering sustainable fintech innovation, investing in green technology research, bolstering renewable energy imports, and improving climate legislation to build a greener and more sustainable future for China.

Green technology advancement, energy input share and carbon emission trend studies

In order to study the theoretical mechanism of the impact of green technology progress on carbon emissions, this article constructs a theoretical mechanism of the impact of green technology progress on carbon emission growth. Explore the conditions for achieving carbon peak and carbon reduction. Based on the Cobb Douglas production function, construct a three sector model that includes capital, labor, and energy. Empirical methods were used to analyze the quantitative impact of green technology progress on carbon emission growth and the moderating effect of energy input share. This study mainly used provincial panel data from 1995 to 2020. Calculate carbon dioxide emissions based on energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission coefficients of various energy sources in different regions. Using the perpetual inventory method to calculate capital growth rate, green computing progress rate, etc., to provide data support for the green technology carbon reduction model. Empirical analysis of the impact of green technology progress on carbon emissions using the FGLS panel model. Theoretical and empirical analyses show that green technological progress promotes an increase in the carbon emission growth rate through the scale effect, with an impact coefficient of 0.607; it promotes a decrease in the carbon emission growth rate through the technological effect, with an impact coefficient of - 0.667; the combined effect promotes a decrease in growth rate of carbon emissions, with an impact coefficient of - 0.06. The share of energy inputs has a positive regulating effect on the scale effect.

Does place-based green policy improve air pollution? Evidence from China's National Eco-Industrial Demonstration Park Policy

Air pollution is one of the serious environmental problems facing the world. This paper systematically investigates the impact and transmission mechanism of the construction of national eco-industrial parks (NEDPs) on urban air pollution based on Chinese city-level panel data from 2003 to 2021 using a staggered difference-in-differences (staggered DID) model. It is found that the construction of NEDP significantly reduces urban air pollution, a conclusion supported by the negative weight diagnostic test and two types of robust DID estimators. Mechanism analyses indicate that NEDP construction reduces urban air pollution mainly by improving regional environmental regulation, promoting green technology innovation and improving energy structure. In addition, the mitigation effect of NEDP construction on urban air pollution is heterogeneous by policy intensity, city resource endowment, city size and administrative status. Further tests show that the institutional environment enhances the air pollution mitigation effect of NEDP construction and that the better the degree of marketization, property rights system, legal system and market development in the place where the policy is implemented, the more conducive it is to amplify the air pollution suppression effect brought about by NEDP construction. Developing economies should take complete account of the characteristics of different regions when implementing place-based green policies to achieve synergistic development of the environment and the economy.

Does urban agglomeration aggravate regional haze pollution? Empirical evidence from urban agglomerations in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in China

Under China's "new normal," urban agglomeration (UA) has become a new direction for urbanization and regional coordinated development. The urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (MRYR-UA) is one of the locations where the haze concentration surpasses the Chinese standard. This study analyzes panel data from 284 Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2005 to 2018 to undertake an empirical investigation based on the MRYR-UA as a quasi-natural experiment for its development planning strategy. The results show that the establishment of the MRYR-UA greatly reduced regional haze pollution. In this paper, social, economic, and natural factors are considered: industrial structure, human capital, and population density can reduce haze pollution, while openness exacerbates urban pollution, confirming the pollution haven hypothesis. The increase in wind speed and rainfall can reduce the concentration of haze. The mediating effect test shows that economic, technological, and structural effects can alleviate haze pollution in the MRYR-UA. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the number of enterprises decreased in core cities but significantly increased in edge cities, indicating that core cities transferred industrial enterprises to edge cities under the pressure of environmental regulation, resulting in the internal transfer of pollution.

Polycentric agglomeration and haze pollution: evidence from China

Polycentric agglomeration has gradually become a salient feature of rapid growth in urbanization in China. Using province-level balanced panel data over the period 2000-18, we examine the impact of polycentric agglomeration on haze pollution and its mechanism of action. The results show that the impact of polycentric agglomeration on haze pollution exhibits a significant inverted U-shaped feature. Nevertheless, except for a few provinces where polycentric agglomeration exceeds the turning point, the degree of polycentric concentration in most provinces lies to the left of the turning point. Further, a mediating effect model illustrates that industrial structure rationalization and technological progress are effective paths through which polycentric agglomeration affects haze pollution. Finally, we demonstrate that the effect of polycentric agglomeration on haze pollution is influenced by transportation and communication infrastructure; improved transportation and communication infrastructure contributes to the haze control effect of polycentric agglomeration.

The Impact of Fintech Development on Air Pollution

Over the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, China has achieved rapid economic and technological growth at the cost of severe air pollution. The emerging Fintech, as the result of financial institutions' adapting to the latest digital technology, might be a solution to reduce air pollution. This paper investigates the impact of Fintech development on air pollution using a two-factor fixed effects model based on data for prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2017. The findings show that Fintech development can effectively reduce air pollution emissions, and this conclusion is proved to be robust throughout a series of tests. The mechanism analysis shows that Fintech reduces air pollution by promoting digital finance and green innovation.

Big data analytics capabilities for reinforcing green production and sustainable firm performance: the moderating role of corporate reputation and supply chain innovativeness

The literature review lacks empirical studies on the role of big data analytics (BDA) and green technological innovation capabilities (GTICs) in promoting the sustainable performance of the manufacturing industry. The primary objective of this study is to examine the role of BDA-technology capability, GTIC, and environmental orientation toward green production and sustainable firm performance. Moreover, this research paper investigates the mediating role of green production and green competitive advantage and the moderating role of corporate reputation and supply chain innovativeness. Primary data was collected from Pakistani manufacturing firms through the survey method. Structural equation modeling was applied to measure and verify the relationship of proposed hypotheses. Empirical findings show BDA technology capability, GTIC, and environmental orientation positively contribute to green production. Moreover, green production helps achieve a green competitive advantage, and green competitive advantage positively influences sustainable firm performance. Furthermore, mediating role of green production and green competitive advantage and moderating role of corporate reputation and supply chain innovativeness was also confirmed. This study contributes by developing a comprehensive model showing the relationship between organizational capabilities, BDA technology capability, GTIC, and sustainable firm performance by considering potential mediators and moderators. Thus, this research suggests enhancing green production and sustainable firm performance through adopting BDA technology capability and GTIC by Pakistani manufacturing firms.

Balance between Smog Control and Economic Growth in China: Mechanism Analysis Based on the Effect of Green Technology Innovation

The balance between smog pollution (SP) control and economic growth (EG) is currently a major problem facing China's development. Green technology innovation (GTI) is an effective way to promote ecological civilization and realize green development. Thus, whether GTI can facilitate a win-win situation of SP control and stable EG is an important issue of academic concerns. In this paper, the mechanisms of the role of GTI, SP and EG were systematically demonstrated. The corresponding research hypotheses were proposed. Based on the data book of 278 Chinese cities from 2008 to 2020, the effects of GTI on SP and EG were systematically investigated using the econometric estimation method of dynamic spatial panel simultaneous equations. The results show that GTI can reduce SP directly, or indirectly by promoting EG. Although GTI can promote EG, EG may be inhibited due to GTI-induced SP reduction. Inter-regional SP showed significant spatial agglomeration characteristics. EG had significant spatial correlation effects. GTI in neighboring regions can also facilitate local SP control. Further analysis shows that compared with green utility model innovation (GUMI), green invention and innovation (GII) had a more significant effect on reducing SP and promoting EG. In addition, the analysis of the comprehensive effect of GTI on SP and EG shows that GTI can achieve the overall balanced development of SP prevention and EG regardless of GTI types.

The impact of environmental information disclosure quality on green innovation of high-polluting enterprises

With the gradual increase of social awareness of environmental protection, environmental information disclosure has become the key for enterprises to accept social supervision and fulfill their social responsibility. This study examines the high-polluting enterprises that were listed on Chinese A-shares between 2008 and 2021. The influence of environmental information disclosure quality on green innovation is examined using ordinary least squares (OLS) as a benchmark model. The results show that the improvement of environmental information disclosure quality of high-polluting enterprises can significantly improve the quantity and quality of green innovation of enterprises and are mediated by alleviating financing constraints and enhancing cash reserves. Moreover, improving the quality of environmental information disclosure of highly polluting enterprises has a more significant contribution to the quantity and quality of green patents of non-state-owned enterprises, enterprises located in central and eastern China, and large enterprises. The findings of this paper provide theoretical support for achieving a "win-win" situation of environmental protection and green innovation.

Promotion incentives and air pollution: From the political promotion tournament to the environment tournament

Chinese officials play an important role in air pollution control. This paper used a sample of 282 prefecture-level cities in China to discuss the impact of promotion incentives of officials on air pollution from the perspectives of heterogeneity, mechanism and spatial effects. We found that the promotion incentives of officials reduced air pollution, and GDP per capita had positive moderating effects. The effects of promotion incentives were more significant in cities with less air pollution, in the central and western regions, for officials with higher education levels, or years after 2007. The promotion incentives could promote the development of green finance and green technology innovation, both of which were conducive to mitigating air pollution. Using the dynamic spatial Durbin model (DSDM), we found that the promotion incentives had negative spatial spillover effects. The promotion incentives in surrounding cities reduced air pollution in the local city; however, it had only short-run effects and no long-run effects.

Spatial effect analysis of heterogeneous green technology innovations on pollution emission reduction: evidence from China's power industry

Based on the provincial panel dataset of the power industry in China from 1997 to 2020, this study employed the dynamic spatial Durbin model (SDM) to investigate the spatial effects of heterogeneous green technology innovations (GTIs) of the power industry chain-clean energy GTIs (GTI1), fossil-fueled GTIs (GTI2), energy-saving GTIs (GTI3), and power transmission technology innovations (GTI4)-on three pollution emission reduction: SO2, solid waste (SW), and waste water (WW). The empirical results revealed that three pollution emissions showed "path dependent" and "snowball effects." GTI1, GTI2, and GTI3 reduced local SO2 and SW emissions, while GTI2 and GTI4 had no obvious reduction effects on WW emissions. Different GTIs had the same spatial "symbiotic effects" on SO2 emission reduction in the short term, showing positive spatial spillover reduction effects. Finally, it is of great significance to make full use of the positive spatial spillover effects of GTIs to promote the regional collaborative linkage of pollutant governance in the power industry.

The effects of environmental tax reform on urban air pollution: A quasi-natural experiment based on the Environmental Protection Tax Law

Air pollution significantly impacts sustainable development and public health. Taking the implementation of China's Environmental Protection Tax Law in China as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper employs the difference-in-differences (DID) and spatial DID models to evaluate the effects of environmental tax reform on urban air pollution. The findings are as follows. (1) Environmental tax reform can significantly reduce urban air pollution, and a series of robustness tests have also been conducted to provide further evidence. (2) Green technology innovation and industrial structure upgrading from a vital transmission mechanism for environmental tax reform to improve air quality. (3) Environmental tax reform significantly inhibits urban air pollution in cities located north of the Qinling-Huaihe line and big cities. (4) Moreover, environmental tax reform not only promotes the improvement of local air quality but also has a significant negative spatial spillover effect, reducing air pollution in neighboring cities. The research conclusions provide theoretical support and policy suggestions for promoting sustainable economic development, rationally optimizing environmental protection tax policies and improving urban air quality.

Will China's R&D investment improve green innovation performance? An empirical study

In 2020, China's R&D investment reached 2442.6 billion RMB, and it ranks second in the world, but the performance of green innovation has not proportionately improved. The question of how to promote the improvement of green innovation performance is particularly important in order to mitigate future environmental problems and issues due to rapid development of China's economy. While past research has examined the relationship between R&D investment and green innovation, they have not explicitly considered the effect of regional technological innovation level on this relationship. Hence, we fill this gap by exploring the relationship between R&D investment and green innovation performance using data from various regions in China from 2015 to 2019, under the effect of a threshold variable, namely, technological innovation. We explore the impact of economic development level, environmental regulation level, foreign direct investment, and science and technology in fiscal expenditures on green innovation performance. The empirical results show that when the regional technological innovation level is used as the threshold variable, the R&D investment has a significant double-threshold effect with the lagging three-phase green innovation performance. When the technological innovation level is low (< 0.1082), R&D investment has a negative impact on green innovation performance. Moreover, when the technological innovation level is high (>0.5837), the impact of regional R&D investment on green innovation performance is sub-optimal. Consequently, the range of [0.1082 to 0.5837] is the best range for the positive impact of R&D investment on green innovation performance. Furthermore, among China's 30 provinces and cities, 24% (mostly areas located in the southwest and northeast of China) have the technological innovation level in the optimal range. Our results help explain the current status of China's R&D investment and green innovation development, and provide a theoretical basis for the formulation of government innovation investment policies.

Digital Economy Development and Urban Green Innovation CA-Pability: Based on Panel Data of 274 Prefecture-Level Cities in China

The digital economy (DE) plays a crucial role in green innovation (GI) and green development as a new economic form. Based on the panel data of 274 Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2011 to 2019, this paper constructs a comprehensive DE index and conducts two-way fixed effect regression to explore its impact on GI capabilities and examines the mediating effect of industrial structure transformation and upgrading. The research results show that: (1) The development of the DE has significantly improved the GI capability of cities. (2) In terms of space, the development of DE and GI ability development in eastern cities outperform that in central and western regions. However, the development of eastern cities is almost saturated and slow, while the development of central and western cities is faster. (3) The DE has a significant role in promoting GI capabilities in the central and western regions. Although the eastern region has a positive impact, it is negligible. In terms of urban scale, the DE of the large, medium, and small cities positively affects GI capabilities to the effect. (4) The transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure mediate the relationship between the DE and GI. Based on the above conclusions, relevant suggestions for improving GI capabilities around the development of the DE and industrial transformation and upgrading must be devised.