Academy of Science and Technology Development, Journal Center, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430000, China.
School of Economics and Trade, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 18;20(3):1748. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20031748.
This paper took the policy of China' Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan as an exogenous shock to reflect the change in environmental regulation intensity. By matching environmental policies with micro data of listed companies in China, this paper explored the effect and mechanisms of environmental regulation on enterprise green innovation. Through constructing difference-in-difference (DID) and difference-in-difference-in-difference (DDD) models, we found the following to be the case: (1) Environmental regulation had a significant positive effect with the green innovation level of Chinese listed companies. (2) Compared with non-regulated industries, this policy has led to a significant increase (5.4%) in the amount of firms' green patent applications in regulated industries, and the promoting effect was more obvious in key areas that are strictly controlled by this policy. (3) Compared with non-state-owned enterprises, it had a stronger impact on the green innovation of state-owned enterprises. (4) Mechanistic analysis showed that China's environmental regulation can play a resource compensation effect by increasing environmental protection subsidies for enterprises' green innovation behaviors. Additionally, it can force firms to increase investment in environmental pollution governance by raising pollution penalties, thus exerting the forcing effect. This paper provides new evidence for Porter's hypothesis and can provide a reference for developing countries promoting green innovation through environmental policies and regulations.
本文以中国《大气污染防治行动计划》的政策为外生冲击，反映环境规制强度的变化。通过将环境政策与中国上市公司的微观数据相匹配，本文探讨了环境规制对企业绿色创新的影响和机制。通过构建差分（DID）和双重差分（DDD）模型，我们发现：（1）环境规制对中国上市公司的绿色创新水平有显著的正向影响。（2）与非规制行业相比，该政策导致规制行业的绿色专利申请量显著增加（5.4%），且在该政策严格控制的重点地区，促进作用更为明显。（3）与非国有企业相比，它对国有企业的绿色创新有更强的影响。（4）机制分析表明，中国的环境规制可以通过增加环保补贴来发挥资源补偿效应，鼓励企业的绿色创新行为。此外，通过提高污染罚款，环境规制可以迫使企业增加对环境污染治理的投资，从而发挥强制效应。本文为波特假说提供了新的证据，为发展中国家通过环境政策和法规促进绿色创新提供了参考。
