How does environmental regulation influence green technological innovation? Moderating effect of green finance

Green horizons: Overcoming political risks with strategic environmental management and financial innovation

The impact of political risk and financial development has been widely studied in the context of sustainable environmental practices. However, their effects on green finance and sustainable finance initiatives have not been thoroughly explored. This paper fills this gap by examining the influence of the political risk financial development index on green finance across 21 OECD economies from 1990 to 2020. Unit root and cointegration tests reveal that variables are stationary at first difference, and there is a long-run cointegration among them. For the primary analysis, we employed the novel MMQR approach, which demonstrates that the financial development index enhances green finance, while the political risk index diminishes it across all quantiles - upper, median, and lower. Robustness analysis using BSQR further confirms these findings. Policies aimed at fostering financial development and reducing political risk should acknowledge the growing significance of green finance in OECD economies.

Green investor behavior and corporate green innovation: Evidence from Chinese listed companies

Businesses embracing green innovation can encourage high-quality green economic development in addition to reducing emissions. In this paper, we use the Difference-in-Differences (DID) to investigate the influence of green investor behavior on the green innovation of companies, using the first-ever green investor investment in a company as a quasi-natural experiment. According to research, green investors have the power to accelerate corporate green innovation greatly. Three key strategies that green investors can use to do this include raising institutional investment levels, enhancing the green perception of executives, and bringing in top talent. Heterogeneity analysis shows that non-high-polluting, big, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are more likely to benefit from green investors' green innovation effects. Further analysis reveals that (ⅰ) green investors' influence on an enterprise's level of green innovation can help it improve its ESG ratings; (ii) green investors can encourage green innovation in source control but have little effect on green innovation in end-of-pipe treatment; (ⅲ) green investors can support both non-green and green innovation in enterprises, but have a greater influence on green innovation. This study strengthens the micro relationship between green investors and corporate green innovation. It also supports the theoretical underpinnings of corporate green innovation, which is significant for advancing green innovation, environmental protection, and high-quality economic development in emerging economies.

The impact of internet use and cognitive conflict on farmer IPM technology adoption: evidence from China

BACKGROUND

Integrated pest management (IPM) plays a crucial role in protecting agricultural environments and enhancing the quality of agricultural products. However, a major challenge in China is the conflicting understanding of IPM among farmers, leading to low adoption rates. This undermines farmers' ability to control pests and diseases while increasing risks to agricultural quality and safety. This study aimed to investigate the impact of cognitive conflicts on farmers' adoption of IPM in kiwifruit farms in Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces. Additionally, the study explored the moderating role of internet use in the relationship between cognitive conflicts and farmer adoption of IPM. Data were collected from 686 kiwifruit farms through field surveys in 2018. The binary Probit model and moderating effect models were used to assess the influence of internet use and cognitive conflict on farmer adoption of IPM.

RESULTS

The study found that cognitive conflicts significantly hindered farmers' adoption of IPM. Higher levels of cognitive conflict were associated with lower likelihoods of adopting IPM. Internet use and frequency had positive effects on farmer adoption of IPM, promoting its implementation. Moreover, internet use and frequency helped alleviate the inhibitory effect of cognitive conflicts on farmer adoption IPM.

CONCLUSION

This research enhances our understanding of cognitive conflicts among farmers when promoting IPM and provides viable strategies to improve the effectiveness of public sector promotion and stimulate farmers' willingness to adopt IPM. It emphasizes the importance of addressing cognitive conflicts and utilizing internet resources to enhance IPM adoption among kiwifruit growers in China. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Determining the green technology innovation accelator and natural resources towards decarbonization for the EU countries: evidence from MMQR

Gearing up for green technology innovation (GTI) and natural resources has become even more important in the transition to a zero-emission life, a green economy, and sustainable development goals. This attempt has become a situation that needs to be overpowered much sooner by the European countries, which have encountered challenges in many ways, especially regarding natural resources, energy supply, and the climate crisis. In this vein, the current study follows the novel, robust Method of Moment Quantile-Regression (MM-QR), which successfully yields heterogeneous information structure across quantiles, to examine the determinants of GTI for 15 EU countries over the period of 2003-2018. MM-QR estimation results indicate that the determinants of green technology innovation are heterogeneous across the EU countries. While green growth (GG) has an adverse impact on GTI in middle- and high-GTI countries, the effect of ecological footprint on GTI is positive for countries in the highest-GTI countries. The positive effects of financial development (FD) on GTI are revealed for all countries. Remarkably, environmental taxes have an adverse and positive influence on GTI in the lowest and highest quantile countries, respectively. Finally, renewable energy and greenfield FDI have no effect on GTI. Governments can promote GTI by providing financial resources, in the most immaculate way, to firms that engage in green technology projects, as well as by encouraging these through environmental taxes.

Can digital transformation change a firm's green innovation strategy? Evidence from China's heavily polluting industries

Enterprises are facing the superimposed challenges of digitalization and greening. The shift from reactive green technology innovation (RGT) to proactive green technology innovation (PGT) has special significance for sustainable economic development. Which strategies will companies choose? Can digital transformation (DT) motivate companies to transform their green innovation strategies? Enterprises' green innovation strategy choices must be explained with regard to digitalization. The purpose of this paper is to reveal how digitalization affects the choice of green innovation strategies and to provide a realistic basis for the sustainable development of heavily polluting enterprises. We formulated a "DT-capability-strategy" theoretical framework incorporating external constraints and internal attitudes to empirically test the microdata of 505 heavily polluting enterprises. The results show that: (1) DT can shift the heavily polluting enterprises' green innovation strategies from RGT to PGT. Endogenous tests and robustness tests support this conclusion. (2) A mechanism test shows that environmental regulations cannot significantly regulate a green innovation strategy. Only a company's capabilities and attitudes can influence PGT but their effects on RGT are not statistically significant. (3) The influence of DT on green innovation strategies shows multi-dimensional heterogeneity in the digital infrastructure, scale, and innovation level of the enterprise. The conclusions provide implications for enterprises to integrate their digital and green behaviors.

The effect of green fiscal policy on green technological innovation: evidence from energy saving and emission reduction fiscal policy

The "National Comprehensive demonstration of Energy Saving and Emission Reduction Fiscal Policy" (ESER policy) is a green fiscal policy to facilitate China's green sustainable development. Green sustainable development is facilitated by green technological innovation. Thus, evaluating the influence of the ESER policy on green technological innovation is essential. This study employs the difference-in-differences model to assess the ESER policy effects. The findings suggest that the ESER policy facilitates green technological innovation, but the policy effect has inhibited green technology innovation in neighboring cities. Mechanism analysis indicates that this policy effect is realized through increasing scientific research investment intensity and promoting industrial structure upgrading. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that this policy is effective in facilitating green technological innovation when performed in eastern, non-old industrial base, non-resource-based, and high green innovation level cities. In addition, the ESER policy implemented in conjunction with innovation policy can be more effective in promoting green technological innovation. These results provide valuable insights for improving the ESER policy and offer helpful guidelines for green fiscal policymaking in other countries.

The impacts of carbon emissions trading scheme on green finance: evidence from China

China enacted and implemented a carbon emissions trading pilot policy in 2011, and whether this carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS) can promote the development of green finance is crucial to realizing a win-win situation for both environmental and economic performance. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2007 to 2019, this study constructs a multi-period double-difference model (DID) to explore the impact of carbon ETS on the development of green finance and uses the spatial Durbin model (SDM) to test whether there is a spatial spillover effect of the carbon ETS on the development of green finance. The results show that (a) the implementation of carbon ETS significantly promotes the development of green finance, and this conclusion still holds through a series of robustness tests; (b) the promotion effect of the carbon ETS on the development of green finance is more significant in eastern and western provinces, non-resource-based provinces, and provinces with a high level of openness to the outside world; (c) industrial structural upgrading and green innovation play pivotal roles in achieving the desired outcomes of carbon ETS; (d) carbon ETS have spatial spillover effects on the development of green finance, with the indirect effects being more significant than the direct effects. The findings of this study can serve as a valuable reference for expediting the establishment of a unified national carbon market and the development of a robust green financial system. This holds immense significance in effectively implementing the "dual-carbon" strategy.

Green financing and technological innovation influence on e-commerce industry green environment

The urgent need to address environmental concerns has led to the adoption of green production targets by businesses worldwide. This paper explores the influence of green financing and technological innovation on green e-commerce as companies seek to achieve these targets. The study uses a qualitative research design, employing semi-structured interviews with industry experts to gather data. The findings indicate that green financing has a significant positive effect on adopting green production practices and implementing green technological innovations, positively impacting green e-commerce. To reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and promote long-term economic development, COP 26's guiding principles emphasize the need for robust institutions and environmentally responsible technology innovation. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and associated factors will be analyzed in this research for numerous South Asian nations from 1995 to 2020. Institutional and green technological improvements, alternative energy sources, more accessible commerce, population growth, and economic growth are all examples of such factors. With the possibility of residual cross-sectional dependency and heterogeneity, the research used second-generation panel methodologies to investigate the interrelationships between the variables. Switching to renewable energy sources and implementing environmentally friendly technology innovations have both been shown to cut CO2 emissions by an empirically supported 0.084% and 0.054%, respectively. There is a 0.215 percentage point deterioration in environmental quality due to poor institutional quality, a growing population, increased trade openness, and a thriving economy. The study concludes that achieving green production targets depend on the availability of green financing and the adoption of green technological innovations in the e-commerce industry. This paper provides insights for policymakers, businesses, and investors interested in promoting sustainable business practices and the achievement of green production targets.

Digital infrastructure construction, diversified environmental regulation, and dual control of urban carbon emissions-quasi-natural experiment from "broadband China" strategy

This study used three batches of "broadband China" strategies (BCS) implemented from 2014 to 2016 as quasi-natural experiments (QE) to distinguish the level of urban digital infrastructure construction (DIC). Using 231 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2019 as research samples, a progressive differences-in-differences (DID) model was used to empirically test the relationship characteristics between DIC and urban carbon emission (CE) total and intensity. The results show that (1) DIC has a significant negative correlation with total carbon emissions (TCE) and carbon emission intensity (CI), which is conducive to the "dual control" of urban CE, which is still valid after the five robustness tests. (2) The mechanism test shows that the DIC is conducive to improving the level of formal environmental regulation (FER) and informal environmental regulation (IER) and strengthening the synergy between formal and informal environmental regulation (ER), so as to achieve "dual control" of carbon emissions, of which the synergy is the most significant, followed by FER. (3) In heterogeneity research findings, only the third batch of pilot projects can achieve "dual control" of CE, which has the advantage of latecomers. The "dual control" effect of carbon emissions in DIC is more significant in cities with higher levels of marketization and eastern cities. Therefore, DIC plays the role of "icing on the cake," not "providing charcoal in the snow."