How does environmental regulation affect real green technology innovation and strategic green technology innovation?

Internet development, information availability, and Chinese enterprises' cooperative green technology innovation

Cooperative green technology innovation is potentially the answer to the lack of motivation for independent green innovation, which can effectively alleviate many difficulties faced by enterprises engaging in independent green innovation. Internet development provides new opportunities to stimulate innovative cooperation of enterprises. However, little literature has studied the impact of Internet development on enterprises' cooperative green technology innovation. Based on the data of Chinese A-share 3284 listed companies from 2010 to 2019, this paper uses a panel two-way fixed effects model to assess the effect of Internet development on enterprises' cooperative green innovation. The findings are: (1) Internet development significantly drives firms' collaborative green innovation behavior. The result remains robust even after performing a series of robust tests. (2) The Internet empowers green innovation cooperation among firms by improving information availability, including market information availability and technical information availability. (3) The heterogeneous results show enterprises use the Internet to accomplish high-quality collaborative green innovation. Internet development is more helpful in encouraging the cooperative green innovation of enterprises located in central cities and state-owned enterprises. This study provides novel and targeted policy implications to empower enterprises' green innovation cooperation and drive sustainable economic development through Internet development.

The impact of low-carbon city pilot policy on urban green technology innovation: Based on government and public perspectives

Global climate change has caused a series of environmental problems, green technology innovation is necessitating strategic responses, but the impact of low-carbon city pilot policy on urban green technology innovation is unclear. Based on panel data from 285 Chinese cities during 2005-2022, this study employs the Difference in Difference method to examine the impact of low-carbon city policy on urban green technology innovation. The results show that (1) The low-carbon city pilot policy promotes urban green technology innovation. (2) The low-carbon city pilot policy promotes urban green technology innovation through government green input and public engagement. (3) New infrastructure enhances the impact of low-carbon city pilot policy on quantity of green technology innovation. (4) Compared with the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the low-carbon city policy has a greater influence on urban green technology innovation in the Yellow River Basin.The findings provide policy insights for the construction of low-carbon pilot cities.

A study on the "Porter Hypothesis" effect of the regulatory measures of the environmental protection tax law in the post-pandemic era

The implementation of the Environmental Protection Tax Law was a significant milestone in China's environmental tax reform. The implementation of this law was influenced throughout the three-year period of epidemic prevention and control (from early 2020 to the end of 2022). Heavily polluting enterprises are the primary focus of regulations under the Environmental Protection Tax Law. This study conducts an empirical analysis using a structural equation model, leveraging sample data obtained from heavily polluting enterprises in China. The findings indicate that during the three-year period of epidemic prevention and control, the Porter Hypothesis effect was realized in terms of tax fairness but not in terms of tax rationality. Therefore, environmental tax law reforms should be pursued and tax authorities in China should make vigorous efforts to enhance the rationality of environmental taxation. This would improve the comprehensiveness of the "Porter Hypothesis" effect, fully harnessing the dual functions of environmental protection and the economic driving force embodied by the Environmental Protection Tax Law.

Guided by the goal of "double carbon", what is the carbon emission reduction effect of the promotion and application of green technology in China?

"Carbon peaking and carbon neutralization" is an important measure to promote China's ecological and environmental protection and high-quality economic development, and the innovation and application of green technology are critical factors in achieving the "double carbon" goal. Based on the number of citations of green patents of listed enterprises in 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, this paper uses GGDP to replace traditional GDP and calculate carbon emission intensity. Based on the relevant panel data at the provincial level, this paper constructs a spatial Durbin model to analyze the impact mechanism of whether the promotion and application of green technologies promote regional carbon emission reduction. The specific research results are as follows: (1) Through regression of the core explanatory variables with a one-stage lag, it is verified that the promotion and application of green technology has a significant positive promoting effect on regional carbon emission reduction, and there are significant spatial spillover effects and "learning by doing" effects. (2) In the part of heterogeneity test, the impact of green technology promotion and application on carbon emission reduction presents apparent regional heterogeneity and factor endowment heterogeneity. (3) The mediating effect test verifies the mediating effect of energy structure and industrial structure on the influence of green technology promotion and application on regional carbon emission reduction. (4) In the part moderating effect test, it is verified that marketization level and new infrastructure construction have a positive moderating effect in their influencing process, financial development, and government support will weaken the influence of green technology promotion and application on carbon emission reduction effect, and human capital level has a nonlinear regulating effect. The research conclusions of this paper provide necessary enlightenment for the coordination and unification of China's economic transition to innovation-driven and green and low-carbon development.

Quantity and quality: The impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance on corporate green innovation

Despite increasing attention to the economic consequences of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance, its impact on the quantity and quality of corporate green innovation (GI) remains underexplored. This study aims to reveal the impact and underlying mechanisms of ESG performance on corporate GI using a panel dataset of Chinese-listed enterprises. Our results show that ESG performance increases the quantity and quality of corporate GI by 2.72% and 3.20%, respectively. These significant positive effects are consistent across three ESG sub-ratings and a series of robustness tests, such as the instrumental variable (IV) test based on Confucian culture intensity. Mechanism analysis reveals that ESG performance positively affects corporate GI through the resource effect, governance effect, and innovation effect. Additionally, the GI impact of ESG performance is more pronounced in large, young, growing, and mature enterprises, enterprises in clean and low-carbon industries, and those located in key environmental protection (KEP) and two control zones (TCZ) cities. Our evidence provides insights into the informal drivers of corporate GI and the micro-GI effectiveness of ESG performance in emerging markets like China.

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.

Does environmental management system certification affect green innovation performance?-Based on a moderated mediating effects model

What is the impact of environmental management system certification on green innovation performance, and is it a futile endeavor or a profitable one? Grounded in the principles of ecological civilization construction and green development, this study embarks on a comprehensive examination. Initially, it investigates the varying impacts of environmental management system certification on both traditional innovation performance and green innovation performance. Subsequently, it dissects the underlying mechanisms and moderating factors influencing the latter, including an exploration of intermediary effects. The empirical findings of this study are as follows: (i) Environmental management system certification emerges as a catalyst for innovation performance, with the primary impact observed in the realm of green innovation performance. (ii) Social responsibility disclosure is identified as a mediating factor in the relationship between environmental management system certification and green innovation performance. (iii) Larger enterprises, those equipped with robust equity incentives, and those operating in less competitive markets are more prone to benefit from the impact of environmental management system certification on social responsibility disclosure. This, in turn, amplifies the promotion of green innovation performance. However, the moderating effect of property rights on the mediating path remains statistically insignificant. (iv) Environmental management system certification exerts a more pronounced influence on green innovation performance in regions characterized by lower economic development. Moreover, it particularly stimulates exploratory green innovation performance, surpassing its impact on exploitative green innovation performance.

Digital finance, government intervention, and carbon emission efficiency in China

In accordance with the "dual carbon" objective, China is required to effectively pursue economic expansion and environmental preservation while concurrently enhancing carbon emission efficiency (CEE). This study examines the influence of digital finance on CEE and evaluates the moderating effect of government intervention. The analysis uses panel data collected from 282 cities in China at the prefecture level and above, spanning the period from 2011 to 2021. The findings indicate the following: (1) CEE in China is relatively low, and there are notable regional disparities. Specifically, there is a discernible downward trend in CEE throughout the eastern, central, and western areas. (2) In general, the implementation of digital finance has the potential to enhance the efficiency of carbon emissions. The observed effect is significant in the eastern and central regions but not in the western region. (3) Government subsidies have the potential to amplify digital finance's impact on CEE in the eastern region. Conversely, in the central and western regions, its influence can be increased by environmental regulations. Based on these findings, this study presents recommendations for advancing digital finance, enhancing the targeting and assessment of government subsidies, refining environmental regulations, and encouraging the adoption of green technologies.

Assessment of green technology innovation on energy-environmental efficiency in China under the influence of environmental regulation considering spatial effects

Enhancing energy-environmental efficiency (EEE) is crucial for achieving energy conservation and emission reduction goals. Investigating the mechanism through which green technology innovation (GTI) affects EEE and understanding the role of environmental regulation (ER) in this process provides a theoretical basis for efficient utilization of GTI and ER. This study employs a Dynamic Spatial Durbin Model and utilizes panel data from 2003 to 2017 for 30 Chinese provinces to examine the impact of GTI on EEE in the presence of ER. The empirical results reveal: (1) GTI has a U-shaped impact on EEE, primarily driven by SubGI. (2) GTI's influence on EEE is predominantly reflected in PTE, also stemming from SubGI. (3) The interaction term between ER and GTI is 0.0022, while the GTI coefficient is - 0.0741, and the GTI quadratic term coefficient is 0.0007, all statistically significant. This implies that ER mitigates the negative impact of GTI on EEE while strengthening its positive effect. These findings provide empirical evidence and policy insights for more effectively utilizing GTI and ER to enhance EEE and achieve energy conservation and emissions reduction goals.

Bipolar neutrosophic WINGS for green technology innovation

Green technology innovation is a crucial assurance of achieving sustainable economic and environmental development, so improving the capability of green technology innovation is an urgent problem. In order to provide a more objective and accurate tool for identifying the most important impact factor of green technology innovation, this study innovatively proposes a new method by combining the bipolar neutrosophic sets with Weighted Influence Nonlinear Gauge System (WINGS) method. Furthermore, this paper intends to provide recommendations in improving green technology innovation capability. We invite five experts to evaluate fifteen factors influencing green technology innovation using the bipolar neutrosophic linguistic variables. Then, the proposed bipolar neutrosophic set WINGS (Bipolar NS-WINGS) method is applied to measure the influence of each impact factor of green technology innovation. Finally, we divide all the factors into cause group and effect group. Moreover, the network relation map is constructed to visualize the interrelationships between all impact factors. The Bipolar NS-WINGS suggests that Science and Technology Innovation Environment (Ω7) is the most important factor of green technology innovation. The result also indicates that R&D Investment (Ω8) is the most influential factor in which it has impacted many other factors. It is obvious that the integrated method not only enriches the research in the field of decision theory, which has not combined the bipolar-NS and WINGS method for analyzing relationships of factors, but also contributes to the improvement of green technology innovation capabilities.

The impact of China's energy saving and emission reduction demonstration city policy on urban green technology innovation

Urban green technology innovation (UGTI) is strongly tied to environmental regulations, which can successfully balance economic and environmental benefits. Selecting the panel data for 280 Chinese cities during 2006-2019, we take the energy saving and emission reduction (ESER) demonstration city policy as a quasi-natural experiment, then employ the difference-in-differences model to examine the effect and its mechanisms of ESER policy on UGTI. Empirical results show that the ESER policy can significantly promote UGTI, especially in the western region, the northern region, and cities with weak government environmental attention. At the same time, China's ESER policy has a stronger promoting effect on UGTI in cities where environmental targets are more stringent. Mechanism analysis shows that the policy mainly promotes UGTI through two channels: increasing the proportion of science and technology expenditure in fiscal expenditure and upgrading the structure of the industry. In addition, we find that the development of UGTI has positive environmental effects by lowering carbon emissions and air pollution. The findings not only enrich the literature on environmental regulation policies and UGTI at the theoretical level, but also provide references for policymakers to specific implementation methods in further enforcing environmental regulation policies to improve UGTI.

Digital finance and regional green innovation: the perspective of environmental regulation

The relationship between digital finance and regional green innovation has been partially confirmed, yet the role of environmental regulation in it remains unexplored. Therefore, this paper examines the impact of digital finance on regional green innovation and tests the moderating role of environmental regulation using Chinese city-level data from 2011 to 2019 as a research sample. The results show that digital finance can significantly promote regional green innovation by alleviating regional financing constraints and increasing regional R&D investment. Besides, digital finance has apparent regional difference effects (the contribution of digital finance to regional green innovation is greater in eastern China than in western China, and the development of digital finance in neighbouring regions has a negative transmission effect on local green innovation). Finally, environmental regulation positively moderates the relationship between digital finance and regional green innovation. This paper explores the relationship between digital finance and regional green innovation from the perspective of environmental regulation, providing empirical evidence to promote regional green innovation.

The Impact of Human Capital on Green Technology Innovation-Moderating Role of Environmental Regulations

Green technology innovation can bring about dual benefits, i.e., technological progress and energy conservation, as well as emission reduction, which are regarded as effective means to achieve economic development and environmental protection. The influencing factors of green technology innovation have been studied from multiple angles. In order to promote the level of green technology innovation in China from a new perspective, this paper selected human capital as the independent variable, and empirically investigated the direct impact of educational and healthy human capital on green technology innovation, based on the panel data of 30 Chinese provinces (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Tibet) from 2006 to 2016. Meanwhile, considering the current environmental policy system in China, this paper took environmental regulations as moderating variables, and analyzed the moderating role of three environmental regulations, namely, command-and-control environmental regulations, market-incentivized environmental regulations, and public voluntary environmental regulations, in the impact of human capital on green technology innovation. It was found that (1) educational human capital, with a three-period lag, and healthy human capital significantly promotes green technology innovation; (2) command-and-control environmental regulations, with a one-period lag, and market-incentivized environmental regulations promote green technology innovation, while public voluntary environmental regulations have an insignificant impact on green technology innovation; (3) the moderating effect of command-and-control and market-incentivized environmental regulations in the impact of human capital on green technology innovation is not significant. For public voluntary environmental regulations, the moderating effect between educational human capital and green technology innovation is significantly negative, while the moderating effect of healthy human capital on green technology innovation is not significant.