Search

This study examined the impact of the green financial reform and innovation pilot zones on the green finance supply strategy of financial institutions from the perspectives of supply and demand, based on principal-agent theory and the perspective of financial functions. It explored the micro-mechanisms of the supply strategy′s impact on total factor productivity, green innovation, and carbon emissions of enterprises. Using data from listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2012 to 2021, a difference-in-difference-in-differences model was constructed to verify the differential impact of the pilot zones on heavily polluting and nonheavily polluting enterprises. The study introduced a recentered influence function regression and decomposition model to identify the relative changes in financing constraints and capital misallocation between enterprises in the pilot zones and non-pilot zones from the supply perspective. A serial multiple mediation model was constructed to verify the mechanisms through which the pilot zones impacted corporate green transformation from the perspectives of supply and demand. The study also examined the heterogeneity of policy effects from the perspective of information costs and provincial regions. The results indicated that: ① The pilot zones facilitated the green transformation of non-heavily polluting enterprises but did not encourage the green transformation of heavily polluting enterprises. ② Financial institutions in the pilot zones increased the relative financing constraints for heavily polluting and non-heavily polluting enterprises, reducing capital misallocation between them. This, in turn, affected the green transformation of both types of enterprises by promoting innovation input for non-heavily polluting enterprises and suppressing innovation input for heavily polluting enterprises. ③ External business environments, such as environmental regulation and financial technology, and internal enterprise conditions, such as bank affiliation, information disclosure, internal control, corporate size, and property rights, all contributed to the corporate green transformation in the pilot zones. Lower information costs for financial institutions in the pilot zones made it easier for enterprises to achieve a green transformation. There was provincial heterogeneity in the impact of the pilot zones on corporate green transformation. Based on the research findings, the study recommends that the government should enhance the evaluation policies for green finance of financial institutions, coordinate the construction of the green financial system, guide financial institutions to improve their green finance supply strategies, allocate financial resources with the primary aim of achieving corporate green transformation, improve the policy environment of industrial finance and digital infrastructure construction to reduce information costs for financial institutions, prioritize the protection of corporate innovation input, and promote the innovation and introduction of green technologies for enterprises in a classified manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a voluntary individual carbon trading mechanism, the carbon generalized system of preferences (CGSP) aims to promote individuals' active practice of low-carbon behaviors through the incentive model of 'who reduces emissions, who benefits from the practice.' It is an extension and expansion of the carbon emission trading mechanism to the individual level, and it is of great significance to evaluate the carbon emission performance of this policy to tap the emission reduction potential of individual society and enrich the environmental policy tool system. Based on the quasi-natural experiment of the implementation of the CGSP in Guangdong Province in 2015, this paper empirically evaluated the policy effect of the CGSP in improving regional carbon emission performance by using the synthetic control method and provincial panel data from 2005 to 2021 and further explored the mechanism of the policy effect. The results showed that the implementation of the CGSP was conducive to improving regional carbon emission performance and promoting the reduction of regional total carbon emissions, per capita carbon emissions, and carbon emission intensity. In the seven years from 2015 to 2021, the policy intervention reduced the total carbon emissions of Guangdong Province by an average of 40.94 million tons, per capita carbon emissions by 0.294 tons, and carbon emission intensity by 0.312 tons/10 000 yuan. This conclusion was still valid after the placebo test, ranking test, and test excluding other policy interferences. Further intermediary tests showed that the CGSP acted on regional carbon emissions through two intermediary pathways: promoting public green travel and reducing electricity consumption. But the mediating path with energy consumption as the mediating variable did not hold. The study reveals the effectiveness of both incentivized and voluntary individual carbon trading mechanisms in environmental governance and makes the following policy recommendations: ① We should pay attention to the emission reduction potential of social individuals on the consumer side, gradually incorporate individual carbon trading mechanisms into carbon emission reduction governance, and encourage local governments to apply and develop the CGSP according to local conditions. ② In the design of CGSP, it is necessary to improve the incentive mechanism in low-carbon travel scenarios and low-carbon life scenarios and improve the convenience of public participation in emission reduction. ③ It is necessary to develop a more scientific carbon-inclusive quantitative verification methodology and build a comprehensive carbon trading system covering the public and industrial enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of pursuing a Chinese path to modernization that advocates the promotion of harmony between humanity and nature, dealing with the synergy of multi-target environmental regulation policies is an important task towards the modernization of China's governance system and capacity. In this context, can synergistic environmental policies more effectively promote industrial transformation and upgrading when facing the two strategic tasks of building a beautiful China and achieving the goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality? Existing research has no answer to this question. This study used the policy of establishing ' acid rain and SO2 pollution control zones' and the low-carbon city pilot policy as a quasi-natural experiment of environmental policy synergy and combined the influences of the effective government and the efficient market within a unified analytical framework. Using the panel data of 282 prefecture level cities and above in China from 2003 to 2020, this study used the difference-in-differences model to examine the impact of the constraints of the dual environmental objectives, i.e., pollution control and carbon reduction, on the transformation and upgrading of regional industries. The results showed that: (J) Comparing with a single environmental regulation, the synergistic effects of the pollution control and carbon reduction policies were better at promoting regional industrial transformation and upgrading, and the conclusion consistently held through a series of robustness tests. © The mechanism analysis showed that under the dual environmental objectives, the effective government could stimulate regional industrial transformation and upgrading via the regulatory effect of fiscal expenditure. Simultaneously, the efficient market could motivate micro-enterprises to generate relocation and innovative compensatory effects to realize the transformation and upgrading of regional industries. Further research revealed distinct heterogeneity in the transformation and upgrading of regional industries under the dual environmental objectives. The zones with the two pilot policies had a more pronounced impact on the industrial transformation and upgrading of eastern regions, non-traditional industrial bases, regions with heightened environmental consciousness, and areas with superior environmental infrastructure. This study suggests that: ( Local governments should coordinate the overall situation and avoid the blind development of energy-intensive and highly polluting projects. © They should maximize the financial sector's role as a mainstay, attracting and directing more social capital towards green and low-carbon industries. © They should divide and implement national targets for reducing pollution and carbon emissions based on local conditions, and explore experiences and models that can be popularized and replicated. ® They should increase innovation incentives to encourage the synergy of low-carbon technology and low-pollution emission control technology. ® They should also deploy tailored policies that cater to specific regional conditions, foster the profound integration of regional resources, and maximize the potential advantages of each region's synergistic development in pollution control and carbon reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Environmental Science & Technology (10036504) is the property of Editorial Board of Environmental Science & Technology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

As an essential factor of production in economic development, land is an important tool for local governments to boost economic growth. The goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality will push local governments to change the extensive mode of attracting high energy-consuming and high-pollution enterprises by transferring industrial land at low prices. The lowcarbon city pilot policy is important for China to achieve green and low-carbon economic transformation and sustainable development. This policy will inevitably influence the land transfer behavior of local governments in heavily polluting industries. Based on the panel data of 286 cities from 2007 to 2019, this paper took the low-carbon city pilot policy as a quasi-natural experiment and used the time-varying difference-in-differences method to empirically study the relationship between the pilot policy and the land transfer behavior of local governments. The results showed that: ① The implementation of the low-carbon city pilot policy significantly reduced the area and number of land transfers in heavily polluting industries. The above conclusions still held after a series of robustness tests. ② The impact of the low-carbon city pilot policy on land transfer in heavily polluting industries was affected by the intensity of environmental regulation of local governments and the tenure of officials. The stronger the intensity of environmental regulation in the pilot city became, the more the area and number of land transfers in heavily polluting industries were reduced. When the tenure of the secretary of the municipal CPC committee in the pilot city was less than or equal to 3 years, the area and number of land transfers in heavily polluting industries were significantly reduced. However, the age of the secretary of the municipal CPC committee had no significant impact on the land transfer in heavily polluting industries. ③ Heterogeneity analysis showed that non-resource-based cities, cities with high levels of economic development, and large cities displayed a higher reduction in the area and number of land transfers in heavily polluting industries. Based on these, this paper puts forward suggestions from three aspects: we should further promote the low-carbon city pilot policy, add environmental objectives to the assessment system of officials to increase the constraints of environmental objectives, and formulate and implement environmental policies in accordance with local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of pilot zones for green finance reform and innovation (PZGFRI) is one of the important green finance policies in China and also an important means to achieve the goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. To further study the improvement effects of the PZGFRI on air quality, this study selected near-ground ozone concentration as the research object and empirically analyzed the impact of the PZGFRI on urban near-ground ozone pollution using the panel data of 215 cities in China from 2014 to 2019 by using the differential method and the synthetic control method. It further explored the moderating effect of foreign direct investment and financial development level and carried out robustness test by using event study, the placebo test, substitution of explained variables, control of other environmental policies, and quarterly data. The conclusions were as follows: ① During the sample period, the PZGFRI significantly reduced near-ground ozone pollution. There was heterogeneity in the impact of the PZGFRI in different geographical regions on near-ground ozone pollution. ② In the samples from the national level and the eastern region, foreign direct investment itself did not directly cause a significant‘ Pollution Heaven’ effect, but the increase of foreign direct investment was not conducive to the control of ozone pollution in the PZGFRI and indirectly caused the‘ Pollution Heaven’ effect. However, in the central and western regions, the increase of foreign direct investment was conducive to promoting the control of ozone pollution in the PZGFRI, which indirectly brought about the‘ Pollution Halo’ effect. ③ In the samples from the national level and the eastern region, the financial development level had no significant impact on ozone pollution itself, but the PZGFRI had a better effect on controlling ozone pollution in cities with a higher financial development level, i.e., the improvement of financial development level had strengthened the control effect of the PZGFRI on ozone pollution. However, in the central and western regions, the improvement in the financial development level did not significantly enhance the ozone pollution control effect of the PZGFRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China' s goal of achieving peak carbon emissions by 2030 is the fundamental foundation for its scheduled achievement of carbon neutrality by 2060. Taking 280 prefectural-level cities in China from 2006 to 2019 as the research object and the achievement of the carbon peak goal by 2030 as the rigid constraint, this study proposed the logic of 'symbiosis-co-governance-sharing' and focused on the characteristics of symbiosis on carbon emissions and air pollution. On the basis of the quantitative decomposition of the annual goal of reaching peak carbon emissions and the identification of the profit and loss deviation on both carbon emissions and air pollution, this study examined the co-governance synergistic effects of carbon and air pollution and the sharing paths. The results showed that: (1) The goal of reaching peak carbon emissions played a significant synergistic role in reducing pollution and carbon emissions, which could promote the development of cities from deviation to balance and optimization and promote the urban function of making ' bad to good, good to better, and better to best, (2) The synergistic effects of the carbon peak goal on reducing pollution and carbon emissions showed a significant heterogeneous selection effect. In China' s western cities, resource-based cities, environmental protection key cities, and first-mover cities, these effects played a more important role and had a stronger influence. (3) The sharing paths of the synergistic effects lay in the dual perspectives of 'internal' and 'external' source management-process control-end-of-pipe blocking and the dynamic matching of external environmental policy uncertainty. In the continuous promotion of the ' dual carbon' goals, close attention should be paid to carbon reduction and the optimization of the design of multiple sharing paths to enhance the synergistic effects of carbon and pollution reduction. In specific, we should: (1) strengthen source management, control total fossil energy consumption at the source, adjust industrial structure, and focus on energy saving and consumption reduction; (2) strictly control process management, investigate the pollution transfer phenomenon caused by differences in environmental regulation levels and the consequences of profit and loss deviation, and promote the construction of green transportation system through multi-wheel drive; (3) highlight end-of-pipe blocking, implement the whole process of governance, monitoring, and emission reduction, enhance green innovation and fully utilize carbon reduction and sink increase; (4) use dynamic adjustment to achieve internal and external matching and timely implement environmental policies according to local conditions so as to achieve adjustment and precise regulations on time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the impact of environmental regulation, an important measure promoting the construction of ecological civiliza⁃ tion, on green total factor productivity has increasingly become a hot spot. This article attemptd to consider the spatial effect in order to study the nonlinear spatio-temporal impact of investment-oriented environmental regulations dominated by government pollution control on green total factor productivity. Firstly, from the perspective of intra-regional and inter-regional interaction, it revealed the theoretical mechanism of investment-oriented environmental regulations affecting green total factor productivity and examined the characteristic facts of its nonlinear influence relationship. Secondly, based on the goal of green and low-carbon transformation, the non-radial SBM di⁃ rectional distance function method, including outputs such as carbon emissions and PM2.5, was used to measure the provincial-level green total factor productivity from 2001 to 2019 and to decompose the contributions of pure efficiency, technological progress, and scale efficiency. Thirdly, this article selected spatial econometric models based on the Queen adjacency weight matrix and the geograph⁃ ical distance weight matrix to analyze the nonlinear spatio-temporal impact of investment-oriented environmental regulations on green total factor productivity. The multi-threshold model was further used to test the regional impact mechanism of investment environmentaloriented regulation on green total factor productivity. The research results showed that: ① Compared to 2001-2011, the national green total factor productivity growth increased significantly from 2012 to 2019, and the regional gap in green total factor productivity had a narrowing overall trend. ② When considering spatial effects, there was an inverted U-shaped relationship between investment-oriented environmental regulations and green total factor productivity. This degree of influence had temporal and spatial heterogeneity, that is, the degree of inverted U-shaped influence was more prominent during 2001-2011 and in the central and western regions. It showed that the degree of inverted U-shaped influence was related to the effect of technological progress. ③ From the perspective of spatial spillover effects, green total factor productivity had significant spatial correlation characteristics, and investment-oriented environmen⁃ tal regulations at the national level had a significant positive spatial spillover effects on green total factor productivity. The spatial spill⁃ over effects of different periods and regions were heterogeneous. ④ When the energy consumption per unit GDP met a certain threshold condition, the improvement of investment-oriented environmental regulation could have a positive effect on green total factor productivi⁃ ty. Finally, countermeasures and suggestions are put forward from the aspects of comprehensive environmental regulation tools, con⁃ struction of regionally coordinated and efficient environmental regulation policies, exploration of cross-regional ecological compensation mechanisms, strengthening green technology transformation, and adjusting industrial structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]