Financial Attributes, Environmental Performance, and Environmental Disclosure in China

Can Environmental Information Disclosure Enhance Firm Value?-An Analysis Based on Textual Characteristics of Annual Reports

This study examines the impact of environmental information disclosure quality on firm value for Chinese listed companies in heavily polluting industries from 2010 to 2021. By controlling for the level of leverage, growth, and corporate governance, a fixed effects model is constructed to test this relationship. Furthermore, this study analyzes the moderating effects of annual report text features, such as length, similarity, and readability, on the relationship between environmental information disclosure and firm value and the heterogeneous impact of firm ownership on this relationship. The main findings of this study are as follows: There is a positive correlation between the level of environmental information disclosure and firm value for Chinese listed companies in heavily polluting industries. Annual report text length and readability positively moderate the relationship between environmental information disclosure and firm value. Annual report text similarity negatively moderates the relationship between environmental information disclosure and firm value performance. Compared with state-owned enterprises, the impact of environmental information disclosure quality on the firm value of no-state-owned enterprises is more significant.

The Effect of Female Personnel on the Voluntary Disclosure of Carbon Emissions Information

This paper examines the effect of female personnel (female executives and female employees) on corporate voluntary disclosure policy on carbon emission information. The study is motivated from the recent fact that the laws and systems related to female workers are rapidly changing as the social and economic status of women in South Korea has recently improved. In a sample of 9406 firm-year observations over the period from 2014 to 2020, the higher the proportion of female executives, the higher the frequency of voluntary disclosure on carbon emission information. These results are the same even when the female workforce was measured as the proportion of general female employees. Therefore, it can be said that the existence of female personnel at the management and practice level plays a significant role in improving voluntary disclosure quality. By considering the impact of gender manpower composition on enhancing corporate transparency, it provides evidence that market participants can have a positive view on the quality of information environment provided by companies with a high proportion of female personnel.

Does Digital Transformation in Manufacturing Affect Trade Imbalances? Evidence from US–China Trade

In the new era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, digitalization has progressively transformed manufacturing and further affected the balance in international trade patterns. This study assesses whether and how the digital transformation in manufacturing contributes to trade imbalances. Using detailed industry-level data from the US, this study constructs an integrated evaluation to measure the level of digital transformation in manufacturing and investigates the ways in which digital transformation in manufacturing affects the US–China trade imbalance. Empirical results show that the US digital transformation in manufacturing is positively associated with the US–China total trade imbalance, which in turn is negatively associated with their related-party trade imbalance. The further analysis presents a moderated mediation model that includes the US-imported intermediate input from China (mediator for the US–China total trade imbalance), foreign direct investment in China by the US multinationals (mediator for the US–China related-party trade imbalance), and Chinese important manufacturing policy (moderator) simultaneously. The results reveal that the Chinese important manufacturing policy moderates the mediation process and the moderated mediation effect is stronger for the industries which are not involved with this policy. Our findings are informative for developing digital transformation strategies for both manufacturing firms and government authorities.

Cleaner Technology and Natural Resource Management: An Environmental Sustainability Perspective from China

In economies, cleaner technology, increased demand for renewable energy, and more efficient use of natural resources contribute to meeting environmental sustainability targets. The Chinese economy is no exception in its attempts to conserve economic and natural resources via collaborative efforts to embrace cleaner technology, green energy sources, and resource conservation management to preserve resources for future generations. This research examines the influence of cleaner technologies, green energy sources, and natural resource management on reducing greenhouse gas emissions using quarterly data for the Chinese economy from 2000Q1 to 2020Q4. The findings demonstrate that increasing demand for green energy reduces greenhouse gas emissions, hence substantiating the premise of ‘green is clean’ energy development. Additionally, optimum resource usage enhances environmental quality, corroborating the ‘resource cleaner blessing’ hypothesis. The positive link between inward foreign direct investment and greenhouse gas emissions substantiates the ‘pollution haven’ concept, according to which inward foreign direct investment uses unsustainable technology in manufacturing processes, hence degrading air quality indicators. Inadequate access to clean cooking technology and increased population density has a detrimental effect on the country’s environmental sustainability agenda, which must be corrected via sustainable regulations. The causality estimates show the feedback relationship between renewable energy demand (and economic growth) and cleaner technology, between economic growth and green energy (and inbound foreign direct investment), and between population density and economic growth (and green energy). The Impulse Response function estimates suggested that economic growth and population density would likely increase GHG emissions. In contrast, cleaner technology, green energy demand, natural resource management, and inbound foreign direct investment would likely decrease greenhouse gas emissions for the next ten-year time period. The sustainability of the environment and natural resources in China is bolstered by developing cleaner technologies, a greater reliance on renewable energy sources, and better management of natural resources.

The Impact of Environmental Information Disclosure on Environmental Governance Satisfaction

Recently, environmental information disclosure has increasingly become a popular rural environmental governance policy. Environmental governance satisfaction can reflect the government’s policy effect, and it is also residents’ subjective evaluation of environmental quality. This paper uses field questionnaire data in rural areas and establishes an ordered logit model to study the relationship between environmental information disclosure and residents’ satisfaction. The empirical results show that rural environmental information disclosure has a significant positive impact on residents’ satisfaction with environmental governance. Further research found that the impact process occurred through the mediating variable of residents’ evaluation of the surrounding ecological environment. In addition, residents’ knowledge of environmental protection has a moderating effect on the relationship between environmental information disclosure and satisfaction. Therefore, in rural environmental governance, local governments can increase environmental information disclosure to improve residents’ satisfaction and participation.

Does Circular Economy Contribute to Smart Cities’ Sustainable Development?

The purpose of this research paper is to investigate and identify the factors which can support the development of one characteristic of smart cities, namely, the smart environment. More specifically, the main goal is to measure the extent to which air pollution may be reduced, taking as determinants several circular economy, fiscal, and environmental factors. The Ordinary Least Squares, the Fixed Effects, and Random Effects regression models using balanced panel data were employed, over the 2011–2019 period, for 28 European states. After rigorously studying the literature, 11 indicators with a predictable impact on the exposure to air pollution were kept. According to current analysis, the most effective methods of reducing air pollution are the use of renewable energy, the investments in educating the population to reduce pollution, the proper implementation of the circular economy, and the adoption of the most suitable policies by the European Union governments. Particular attention needs to be paid to factors such as carbon dioxide-generating activities, which are significantly increasing the air pollution. Another strong value is that of providing information on the assessment of ambient air quality, and on the promotion of appropriate policies to achieve two major objectives: well-being, and sustainable cities.

Public Pressure, Environmental Policy Uncertainty, and Enterprises’ Environmental Information Disclosure

Under the Chinese strategy of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality”, Enterprises’ Environmental Information Disclosure (EEID), as one of the important ways for enterprises to achieve low-carbon development, has gained increased attention from the government, media, investors, and other stakeholders. the EEID is not only an important tool for companies to communicate environmental performance to the outside world, but also an effective way for the government to monitor corporate pollution behavior. Its importance is self-evident. However, relevant research shows that 70% of Chinese listed companies had not implemented the EEID in 2020. Also, there are common problems in the disclosure content and the polarization of the disclosure level among the companies that do disclose. These problems weaken the objectivity and practicability of the EEID and have a negative impact on the government’s environmental supervision, the environmental protection demands of the public, and investors’ decision making. This paper takes listed companies in China’s A-share heavily polluting industries as the research sample to solve the optimization problem of the EEID. By adopting a fixed effects model (FEM), this paper empirically studies the impact of three public pressures on the EEID: government environmental regulation, media attention, and institutional investment preference. Based on China’s unique socialist market economic system, this paper innovatively uses environmental policy uncertainty as a moderator variable. This paper examines the limitations of theoretical research on public pressure and environmental information disclosure by studying the impact of local environmental leadership change on the relationship between public pressure and the EEID. The conclusions of this paper reveal the driving mechanism of how stakeholders such as government, media, and institutional investors influence the EEID. At the same time, it expands the application of public pressure theory in environmental information disclosure research by introducing the perspective of environmental policy uncertainty.

Margin Trading Program, External Profit Pressure and Enterprise Financialization—A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on Double Difference Model

Based on the urgent need of the real economy to “get away from fictitious to substantial”, this paper constructs a quasi-natural experiment based on the margin trading program gradually implemented in China in 2010 and studies the influence of the margin trading program on the financialization level of the target company by using the difference-in-difference method. The results show that, because of the dominant role of financing transactions in margin trading programs in China’s capital market, financing transactions drive up the share prices of listed companies, which leads to an excessive easing of the financing constraints of listed companies and short-sighted behavior of executives, which has a significant role in promoting enterprise financialization. Moreover, the driving effect is more significant in state-owned enterprises, enterprises with a high degree of financing constraint, and enterprises with a low degree of marketization. Economic policy uncertainty will restrain the positive effect of margin trading programs on enterprise financialization through information and governance mechanisms. In contrast, the “branding” effect caused by the financial connection of senior executives will intensify the positive relationship between margin trading programs on enterprise financialization levels. When considering the intermediary effect, we find that the margin trading program will result in the optimistic deviation of analysts’ earnings forecasts and cause the external profit pressure of enterprises, thus increasing the financialization trend. This study is of great theoretical significance and practical value for evaluating the policy effect of the margin trading program, improving this policy, investigating the influencing factors of enterprise financialization, and promoting the real economy to move from fictitious to substantial.