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The Guidelines on Building a Market-Oriented Green Technology Innovation System, which was released by China in 2019, has become a powerful signal to guide the development of green technology innovation (GTI). In the current digital strategy of China, the public media has become a key factor for promoting the transparency of enterprise environmental information. This paper measures the GTI efficiency of the listed paper enterprises in China as well as incorporating media attention into the research framework to explore the influencing factors of GTI of the listed paper enterprises in China during the digital economy era. The results showed that a positive media report had a positive impact on GTI and has become a new driving factor in promoting sustainable production in the digital era. Government support and openness also have a positive impact on GTI. However, negative media reports, environmental regulations, and technological innovation abilities have an inhibitory effect on the GTI efficiency of paper making enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green bonds, a new green financial instrument, encourage enterprises to achieve high-quality development through green technology innovation. However, a lack of research is currently being conducted into the effect of green bond issuance in China. Can green bonds effectively empower enterprises to green innovation? What is the underlying mechanism? In the context of carbon-neutral strategies, it is significant to answer these questions scientifically. This paper uses a quasi-natural experiment of the launch of the green bond market in China in 2016 to conduct empirical studies based on the panel data of 1 558 non-financial Chinese-listed enterprises from 2015 to 2020 with the multi-period difference-in-difference model. The results show that ① issuing green bonds can significantly empower enterprises' green technology innovation. The empowering effect is mainly for green utility patents rather than green invention patents. This result remains after dynamic heterogeneity analysis, placebo test, and other tests. In addition, the effect has a lag. ② Heterogeneity tests show that this empowerment effect varies across enterprises with different property rights, industries, and regions. ③ In terms of the mechanism of action, green bonds can enhance enterprises' ability to innovate green technology by increasing the proportion of long-term loans and improving their debt structure. This paper broadens the relevant literature on the economic consequences of green bonds and the influencing factors of enterprises' green technology innovation and provides policy suggestions for further improving the analysis of green bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is facing a serious land resource mismatch problem, which will profoundly affect the acceleration of economic growth and technological innovation. Reform of the industrial land allocation system can solve the mismatch of land resources, and that also has an important impact on the promotion of economic and technological development. This paper selects the data of Chinese A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2007 to 2020 as the research sample, constructs a double machine learning model, and empirically investigates the impact of a new industrial land use policy on firms' green innovation behavior. The study shows that: (1) the new industrial land use policy significantly promotes firms' substantive and strategic green technological innovation, and the effect on substantive green technological innovation is greater than that on strategic green technological innovation. (2) The enhancement of R&D investment sustainability and the "talent pool" effect are important mechanisms through which the new industrial land use policy influences firms' substantive and strategic green technological innovation. Meanwhile, the new industrial land use policy is conducive to firms' green coinnovation. (3) There is heterogeneity in the effect of the new industrial land use policy, which can significantly promote green technological innovation of firms in the eastern region, while it does not play a significant role in the green innovation behavior of firms in the central and western regions. The above research results enrich the research in the field of industrial land and innovation, help to understand more comprehensively the mechanism of new industrial land affecting firms' green technological innovation, and provide policy insights for strengthening the application of industrial land allocation reform in firms' green innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of urbanization has brought new challenges to the ecological environment, and the promotion of green technology innovation and development is widely recognized as an essential method to achieve cities' economic benefits and environmental protection. This paper examines whether the new urbanization pilot policies (NUP) increase green technology innovation (GTI) from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. This paper examines the impact of new urbanization on GTI by analyzing data from 285 cities in China between 2010 and 2021, using the multi-period DID model with the implementation of NUP as an exogenous policy shock. The study results indicate that NUP significantly affects GTI, and the conclusion still holds after the parallel trend test, placebo test, and other robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the NUP significantly enhances GTI in low environmental pollution, non-resource-based, Medium-sized, and Central Region cities. The test of moderating effect shows that NUP has a "linkage effect" with the government's environmental attention, financial investment in innovation, and regional talent pooling. The findings of this paper provide empirical evidence and decision-making reference for promoting NUP and sustainable development of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simultaneously achieving economic development and environmental protection is a shared global challenge. While the positive effect of environmental regulations on protecting the environment has been widely recognized, the attention paid to low-carbon governance and corporate green transformation remains insufficient. Based on the two-stage least square regression model (2SLS) of instrumental variables, this paper utilizes panel data from China to identify the influence mechanism of government low-carbon governance on enterprise green development. It explores the effect of low-carbon governance on enterprise green development from the perspective of fiscal decentralization. The findings show that (1) Low-carbon governance significantly promotes corporate green development, primarily through improving industrial structure and technological innovation; (2) Low-carbon governance notably promotes the green development of private enterprises but has little effect on state-owned enterprises. There are also geographical differences, and the results are better in Eastern China than in the Central and Western parts of China; (3) Fiscal decentralization at both central and local levels inhibits the effect of low-carbon governance on driving corporate green development by causing a mismatch of human resources. Therefore, to promote corporate green development, low-carbon governance must prioritize green development, actively guide industrial structural upgrading and enterprise technological innovation, implement differentiated low-carbon governance measures tailored to different ownership enterprises, and optimize the assessment indicators for fiscal decentralization. This paper helps deepen the understanding of the relationship between government low-carbon governance and enterprise green development in developing countries. It can be used as a reference for government departments to formulate relevant policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the double pressures of economic growth and ecological environment protection, sea green transformation and the sustainable development of mariculture are critical. This paper constructs an evolutionary game model with the government as the main body and mariculture farmers (enterprises) as the main body and puts forward the research hypothesis. Based on 2006–2019 longitudinal data of nine provinces along China's coast, using multi-period Difference-in-Difference (DID) and dual robust estimation, we empirically investigate the national oceanic ranch demonstration zones for the influence of the green sea aquaculture and their mechanism of action. The results showed that (1) the efficiency of green level of mariculture industry in China is not high, and the establishment of national marine pasture demonstration zone has not effectively promoted the improvement of green level of mariculture industry; (2) the institutional environment, unreasonable industrial structure, and lack of scientific and technological innovation have an effect on the national oceanic ranch demonstration area as the main causes of failure to effectively promote marine green farming; (3) the establishment of the national multi-period demonstration area in the north significantly hindered the growth of the green level of mariculture and fell into the "policy trap", while the establishment of the national multi-period demonstration area in the south significantly promoted the growth of the green level of mariculture. The conclusions of this paper provide an empirical basis and reference for the improvement of the national marine pasture demonstration zone policy and the green transformation of mariculture to a certain extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of green finance reform and innovation (GFRI) pilot zone is an important measure of the Chinese government to urge enterprises to develop green transformation. This paper explores the impact of pilot policies in the GFRI pilot zone on corporate environmental investment. Based on 819 A-share listed enterprises from 2010 to 2020, our staggered difference-in-differences (staggered DID) estimation documents revealed that enterprises in the GFRI pilot zone significantly increased the corporate environmental investment efficiency but reduced the scale of corporate environmental investment.This conclusion remained robust after Propensity Scores Matching difference-in-differences (PSM-DID), replacing dependent variables, and shortening the time window. We contend that the increased research and development (R&D) expenditure and technological innovation are the potential mechanisms at work. Heterogeneity analysis showed that the establishment of GFRI improved the environmental investment efficiency of polluting enterprises but had no effect on green enterprises.Meanwhile, the effect of GFRI exhibited heterogeneity in the type of enterprise ownership. This paper evaluates the implementation effect of GFRI from the perspective of corporate environmental investment, and provides theoretical support and an empirical basis for green finance policy to serve China's green economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green technology innovation (GTI) is an important driver for national green development and a strong fulcrum for the clean production of companies. This paper focuses on the impact of top management team's (TMT's) inherent characteristics on GTI from the perspectives of TMT heterogeneity and text tone in management discussion and analysis (MD&A), as well as the moderating role of executive compensation incentives and financial constraints. The results reveal that: a) the TMT heterogeneity has different effects on companies' GTI; b) the tone in MD&A can significantly promote the companies' GTI; c) both executive compensation incentives and financial constraints significantly adjust the relationship between the TMT heterogeneity or the tone in MD&A on GTI but in different directions. Moreover, the basic conclusions suitable for non-state-owned companies yet differ in state-owned companies considering the property heterogeneity. Thus, this paper constructs a new integrated framework of TMT heterogeneity, tone in MD&A, executive compensation incentives and financial constraints to stimulate the enthusiasm and initiative of companies to develop GTI, which has an important practical significance on accelerating the sustainable development of green production in developing countries. Finally, this paper offers corresponding policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green technology innovation is a crucial factor in the global quest for sustainability. In 2017, China approved the establishment of Pilot Zones for Green Financial Reform and Innovations to build and improve the green financial system. Using a difference-in-difference (DID) model, this paper examines the impact of this pilot policy on corporate green technology innovation and its transmission mechanism based on the data of green patents of Chinese A-share listed manufacturing companies between 2014 and 2019. It is found that Pilot Zones for Green Financial Reform and Innovations have contributed to the growth of green technology innovations. This conclusion is confirmed after a series of robustness tests. The pilot policy's promotion of green technology innovations is mainly reflected in the application of corporate green invention patents. However, it is more significant for non-heavy polluting enterprises, high-tech certified enterprises, and large enterprises. The paper also finds that the pilot policy promotes corporate green technology innovation by promoting social financing, talent support, and government financial support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pilot of Accountability Audit of Natural resources (AANR) is an important initiative for the Communist Party of China Central Committee to eradicate environmental pollution and promote the construction of ecological civilization. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between AANR and green innovation in heavily polluting enterprises, so as to promote regional sustainable development. With a sample of the national key monitoring enterprises in China from 2011 to 2018, this paper investigates the impact of AANR on green innovation in heavily polluting enterprises by applying the multi-period difference-in-differences model. The results indicate that AANR significantly promotes green innovation in heavily polluting enterprises. The results of mechanism testing indicate that AANR stimulates green innovation by promoting government environmental governance and government innovation-driven strategy. The heterogeneity testings indicate that the promoting effect of AANR on green innovation in heavily polluting enterprises is more significant in regions with higher environmental carrying capacity, higher pressure of GDP achievement and higher transparency of government environmental information. Therefore, China should deepen the enforcement of AANR to promote the green transformation of heavily polluting enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the coupling coordination degree between digital economy and green technology innovation in 19 urban agglomerations across China from 2011 to 2020. Through the analysis of the coupling coordination degree model, spatial autocorrelation, multi-distance spatial clustering analysis, kernel density analysis and grey correlation model, this study uncovers the mechanism of coupling between digital economy and green technology in Chinese urban agglomerations. Data analysis revealed a significant increase in the coupling coordination between the digital economy and green technology innovation within urban agglomerations. However, there are noticeable spatial imbalances in this trend. Additionally, the multi-distance spatial distance analysis highlights a shift from a random distribution to a clustered distribution of spatial characteristics. The polarization features vary among each urban agglomeration and exhibit a significant positive spatial correlation. Factors such as economic sustainability, creative talent, policy support, digital impetus, and technological support will affect the coupling mechanism of green technology innovation and the digital economy in China's urban agglomerations. Policy recommendations are proposed to foster the development of the digital economy, promote coordinated growth within and beyond urban clusters, and ultimately build a digital ecological civilization that is both green and intelligent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the panel data of 625 industrial listed enterprises of China from 2012 to 2020, this paper employs the method of propensity score matching–difference in difference to investigate the effect of financial–industrial integration on the enterprise's green development performance and the moderating role of green technology innovation on the relationship between the two is also addressed. It finds that first, financial–industrial integration has a significant promoting effect on the improvement in green development performance of enterprises, and green technology innovation has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between the two. In addition, the effect of financial–industrial integration on enterprise's economic and social performance is not significant, and it mainly promotes enterprise's green development by stimulating environmental performance. Moreover, the degree of financial–industrial integration has a moderate range in which the role of financial–industrial integration can be better played. Further, compared with state-owned enterprise and large-scale enterprise, financial–industrial integration is more conducive to the green development of non-state-owned enterprises and small-scale enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the influence of the dual policies of sustainable economic development and the national dual-carbon target, the establishment of an environmental protection department for the treatment of heavily polluting industries is imminent, and the country has launched pollution control policies and regulations to restrict the emission rights of heavily polluting industries. Therefore, this paper focuses on whether the restriction of emission rights in key industries has reduced carbon emissions. To achieve this, this paper uses panel data of prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2019 and adopts a two-way fixed-effects DID model to systematically analyze the impact of the key pollution industry governance policies launched by the Ministry of Environmental Protection on CO2 emissions in 2017. And further analyze the role of variables such as green technology innovation patents and energy efficiency using this model, while parallel trend tests and placebo tests, and related policies are used to ensure the robustness of the regression results. This paper reveals that: (1) The heavy pollution industry governance policy implemented in 2017 can effectively reduce CO2 emissions in the cities of the treated group, and the effect is more significant in the year of policy implementation; (2) Green utility patents and energy-use efficiency are the effective mediating mechanisms to reduce CO2 emissions; (3) Over time, the effect of heavy pollution industry governance policy on CO2 emissions gradually decreases; (4) The reliability of the baseline regression results of this paper is proved by the use of parallel trend tests, placebo tests, and tests excluding the influence factors such as relevant policies in the same period. Therefore, the key polluting industries treatment policy launched by China's Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2017 under the recent dual-carbon policy development goals formulated by China, can effectively reduce carbon emissions; however, in the future economic development process, the government should give more consideration to the continuity of the policy impact and its coherence on economic development when implementing the policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development can be mainly achieved by promoting the green transformation and development of the world economy and by improving the efficiency of regional green development, which often receive extensive attention from the academia. This paper uses a spatial econometric model to estimate the impact of manufacturing agglomeration on green development efficiency based on the panel data of China's Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). The results show an overall large gap of green development efficiency between regions in the Yangtze River Economic Zone, mostly due to the extremely uneven development of green development efficiency in the upper reaches. Opposite to the middle and lower reaches, manufacturing agglomeration in the upper reaches of the YREB improves green development efficiency. Manufacturing agglomeration is conducive to the improvement of green development efficiency in adjacent areas. Nonetheless, it may hinder green development efficiency by inhibiting green technological innovation. This paper provides empirical evidence and policy implications for applying manufacturing agglomeration to promote green development efficiency in accordance with local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green finance can promote economic transformation and technological innovation and play a key role in solving the ecological environment and energy crisis. This paper constructs a comprehensive ecological livable environment evaluation system based on the provincial panel data in China from 2011 to 2019. At the same time, the panel mediation effect and spatial econometric model are used to test the impact of green finance on the ecological and livable environment. The main research conclusions include the following: (1) green finance has significantly improved China's ecological and livable environment; (2) green finance improves the ecological and livable environment by improving the level of technological innovation; (3) the impact of green finance on the ecological livable environment has regional heterogeneity, and green finance in the central provinces has a better effect on the improvement of the ecological livable environment; and (4) the ecological livable environment among Chinese provinces has a significant positive spatial correlation. Among them, green finance has significantly improved the local ecological livable environment but reduced the ecological livable environment of surrounding provinces. Based on the above conclusions, this paper suggests that the government should pay more attention to green finance and technological innovation and coordinate the development of the ecological livable environment among provinces. The research results provide empirical evidence for better developing green finance and improving the ecological livable environment and also provide certain theoretical guidance for China's coordinated regional development and high-quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More and more emphasis is placed on the common development of economy and ecological environment in China's development strategy, and one of the key solution is green technology innovation of enterprises. This paper takes the carbon emission trading scheme carried out in China in 2013 as a quasi-natural experiment and uses the data of China's A-share non-financial listed companies and the DID method to empirically test the impact of the scheme on enterprise green technology innovation from the micro level. The results suggest that the carbon emission trading scheme has a significant role in promoting enterprise green technology innovation, mainly through the innovation of green practical patents and alternative energy-based patent. Using a series of robustness tests such as dynamic effect test, placebo test, and PSM-DID, it is found that the results are still valid. Further analysis finds that debt financing will weaken the role of carbon emission trading scheme in promoting enterprise green technology innovation. And the carbon emission trading scheme plays a greater role in promoting green technology innovation in state-owned enterprises, enterprises belonging to areas with strong pollution control intensity and high pollution industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the "peak carbon dioxide emissions" and "carbon neutrality" strategic goals, how green finance can prompt private enterprises to achieve green upgrading has become an important issue to be solved. This paper empirically examines the effect mechanism of green credit policy on private enterprises' green innovation by using the difference-in-differences model based on the manually collected green patent data and matching financial data of Chinese listed private enterprises from 2009 to 2019. It is found that the implementation of green credit policy has a significant negative impact on the quality of green innovation of heavy-polluting private firms relative to non-heavy-polluting private firms, and this conclusion is still valid after replacing the explanatory variables, expanding the sample range, changing the model setting, and excluding the interference of other policies during the sample period. The results of the mechanism suggest that green credit policy negatively affects the quality of green innovation of heavy-polluting private firms by limiting their access to financing for loans and the capital market. Further study finds that commercial banks can reduce their non-performing loan ratio and increase their revenue growth rate by extending green credit funds to improve their business performance. It provides insights for better implementation of green credit policy and promotion of green economy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green economic development is an effective tactic for China to cope with the predicament of resources and the environment. As "smoke-free industries", producer services are becoming the main contributors to urban green economic development (UGED). The paper adopts the super-efficiency EBM model to estimate the UGED index of 268 Chinese cities from 2005 to 2019. Based on the theoretical analysis, econometric models are constructed to systematically test how the specialized and diversified agglomeration of producer services impacts UGED. The findings reveal that both agglomeration modes considerably enhance UGED in the local area and its surroundings. Diversified agglomeration exerts a stronger radiation and promotion effect than specialized agglomeration. In addition, the impact of the two agglomeration modes on UGED demonstrates pronounced heterogeneity in urban scales, economic development stages, and industries. Furthermore, mechanism studies suggest that agglomeration substantially boosts UGED by improving human capital, technological innovation, and upgrading industrial structure. As such, our findings serve as an empirical basis for understanding the mechanism of the impact of PSA on UGED and also offer significant insight for local governments to adopt differentiated industrial policies to enhance the positive agglomeration effect on UGED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-carbon pilot city (LCPC) plays a pivotal role in stimulating green innovation among enterprises. However, relying solely on policy often proves less effective, necessitating support from financial development. Yet, current research frequently overlooks the impact of financial development on LCPC policy. Drawing on economic, management, and organizational psychology theories, we investigate the influence of the financial development level on enterprise green innovation in LCPC, utilizing data from listed companies between 2010 and 2018. The main finding is that LCPC facilitates institutional-level green innovation. Concurrently, financial development augments the effectiveness of LCPC policy, further expediting green innovation activities among enterprises in these pilot cities. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that financial development significantly promotes green innovation, particularly among state-owned enterprises, those with myopic management, non-high technology industries, and businesses in the southern region within LCPC. Mechanism tests identify enterprises' financing constraints and R&D investment levels as key pathways through which financial development fosters green economic development in LCPC. This study provides micro-level evidence from China elucidating the effects of environmental policies and offers practical implications for the low-carbon transformation of the manufacturing sector amid peak emissions and carbon-neutral targets. Additionally, it provides valuable guidance for other emerging economies seeking enhanced resource and environmental protection through the implementation of energy-saving and emission-reduction fiscal policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important way for China to achieve its dual-carbon goal, green finance has become the foundation for promoting high-quality economic development in China. In order to clarify the mechanism of green finance on carbon emissions, this paper puts green finance into the economic model and deduces the relationship between green finance and carbon emission reduction. This paper is based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China (excluding Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) from 2008 to 2019, using the individual fixed effect model, dynamical model, mediator model, and SDM model to study the impact of green finance on carbon emissions and its impact path of upgrading of the industrial structure and the development of science and technology based on the measurement of the green finance development index of each province by the entropy method. The findings show that the development of green finance can reduce carbon emission significantly, which can be sustained until at least the third phase and generates spatial spillover effects; regional heterogeneity analysis finds that the development of green finance shows geographical discrepancies: compared with the eastern and western regions, the development of green finance in central region can reduce carbon emissions more significantly; not only can the development of green finance directly reduce carbon emission, but also through the upgrading of industrial structure and technological innovation. The research not only provides a new perspective and supplementary empirical evidence for understanding the carbon emission reduction effect of green finance, but also offers some useful references for green finance to contribute to carbon emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies have shown that environmental tax reform (ETR) in China has a significant effect on green innovation (GI), but there is no in-depth study on the heterogeneous effects of different types of green innovation. Using the data of listed companies in China's high-pollution manufacturing industry from 2012 to 2020, this paper adopts the difference in differences (DID) method to study the differentiation effect of ETR's signal effect and resource crowding-out effect on different green innovation. The empirical results indicate that ETR may significantly improve green product innovation through signaling effect, while reducing green process innovation through resource crowding-out effect. Further moderating effect studies show that enterprises with high institutional corporation social responsibility (ICSR) strengthens the positive effect of ETR on green product innovation. However, enterprises with high technical corporation social responsibility (TCSR) enhances the negative impact of ETR on green process innovation. This paper offers valuable implications for government green governance and enterprises' green transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extended diamond model of green building was constructed to clarify the key elements of green building industry development and the core effectiveness of government. On this basis, a two-dimensional analysis framework of green building with policy tools and life cycle was further developed, and 62 policy texts were coded and analyzed by using Nvivo12 software. It is found that the existing policy tools have limited impact on demand conditions, production factors, enterprise strategies and supporting industries. According to the results, this paper provides the following advice: expand the use of policies in the operation and maintenance phase, increase incentives on the demand side, improve the supply capacity and quality of production factors, pay attention to talent training and enterprise capacity building, improve the overall process precision control system, increase financial incentives for enterprises, implement technological innovation support, and improve the policy system of the whole industry chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of China's ecological civilization construction, enterprises green technology innovation (GTI) has attracted more and more attention. In this paper, the internal factors and external factors, subjective factors, and objective factors of each relevant subject are comprehensively considered, and the analysis framework of the impact mechanism of enterprise GTI is constructed. Then, taking 211 heavily polluting listed enterprises in China from 2010 to 2019 as the sample, integrating the mediating effect model and the moderating effect model, this paper empirically discusses the relationships among corporate endowments, executive characteristics, and enterprise GTI. The results demonstrate that corporate endowments have a positive impact on GTI, and executive characteristics act on GTI as a mediating variable during the impact process; market forces respectively play a weakening and strengthening role in moderating the main effect and the intermediate effect; government intervention and social background have positive moderating effects on the relationship between executive characteristics and GTI; the three moderating variables have a remarkable joint-moderating effect on the relationships between executive characteristics and GTI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green innovation (GI) has the dual attributes of green development and being innovation driven, and it has become an inevitable choice for solving the prisoner's dilemma of environmental protection and economic development under the action of the concept of sustainable development in the new era. This paper aims to clarify how environmental regulation (ER) can achieve a win‒win situation of GI and environmental protection by using data from prefecture-level cities in China and creating a dynamic panel model, quantile model, spatial econometric model, and panel threshold model to empirically analyze the dynamic effect and spatial effect of ER on GI as well as the nonlinear characteristics of the relationship between them and to examine the moderating effect of foreign direct investment (FDI). The results show that ER significantly promotes the development of the GI level and that FDI can play a positive moderating role. The impact has regional heterogeneity, time period heterogeneity, and resource endowment heterogeneity. After several robustness tests, the empirical conclusions are still credible. Based on the empirical conclusions, this paper makes policy suggestions on ER, foreign investment introduction, and the coordinated development of regional GI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green technology innovation is an important way to solve the dilemma of economic growth and environmental protection, while the relevant policies issued by the government have an important impact on the promotion of regional green technology innovation. This paper regards the implementation of the Regional Planning of Yangtze River Delta (RPYRD) as a quasi-natural experiment, using the panel data of 274 cities in China from 2003 to 2016 to explore the green technology innovation effect of regional planning and its transmission mechanisms through the double-fixed effect model and the difference-in-difference (DID) method. The results show that (1) the implementation of the RPYRD promotes regional green technology innovation significantly and the green technology innovation effect of the policy is increasing year by year. (2) There is significant regional heterogeneity in the incentive effect of green technology innovation in regional planning. The policy effect is more obvious in cities with a larger scale, a higher level of human capital and less resource dependence. (3) The regional planning promotes green technological innovation by optimizing industrial structure, reducing FDI and increasing R&D investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing environmental regulation (ER) is an effective way to improve the green innovation efficiency (GIE) of the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) and the key to achieving the target of carbon peaking and neutrality. Using the data of 103 cities in YREB in 2013–2019, this paper explores the effect of heterogeneous ER on GIE. The results of the study are as follows: first, we categorize environmental regulations into formal and informal environmental regulations and explore their impact on green innovation efficiency separately. The results show that both formal and informal environmental regulations can effectively promote GIE in the YREB urban agglomeration. Second, the Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) model is used to analyze the spatial effect. The results show that there are spatial effects between heterogeneous environmental regulations and GIE, and environmental regulation can significantly strengthen GIE through positive spatial effects. Third, this paper uses the threshold model to explore the non-linear relationship between environmental regulation and green innovation efficiency. The results show that as ER increases, the positive effect on GIE increases, and this interesting finding holds for both formal and informal environmental regulations. Fourth, the mediating effect model is used to examine whether green technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading exert mediation effects on how environmental regulations affect GIE. The research results can provide effective policy recommendations to promote the green development of the cities in YREB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs a theoretical model of biased production decisions due to the import of environmental intermediate goods. Additionally, it analyzes the influence of these imports on CO2 emissions based on the trade and CO2 emission data of Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2000 to 2016. Furthermore, it empirically explores how environmental intermediate imports affect CO2 emissions. The study found the following: first, the import of environmental intermediate goods can effectively reduce CO2 emissions; this conclusion still holds under robustness and endogeneity tests. Second, the carbon emission reduction effect related to the import of environmental intermediate goods is affected by differences in geographical location, environmental pollution, sustainable development ability and government efficiency. Third, the mechanism test found that the import of environmental intermediate goods exerts emission reduction effects through the green technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading mechanisms. The conclusions of the research in this article provide a reference for coordinating trade development and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the background of building a multi-environmental co-governance system, it is of great importance to systematically explore how public environmental attention (PEA) affects corporate green innovation (GI). Based on the panel data of Chinese A-share listed enterprises of heavily polluting industries from 2013 to 2020, this paper empirically explores the role of PEA in GI and examines the moderating impacts of media visibility and media favorability. The results indicate that the higher degree of public environmental attention, the more corporate green innovation. After adopting alternative explained variable, instrumental variable analysis and other methods, this conclusion still remains robust. This study also finds that both media visibility (MV) and media favorability (MF) generate significantly positive moderating impacts on the relationship between PEA and GI. Moreover, threshold model tests show that with the increase of MV, the promoting effect of PEA on GI is significantly enhanced, while there exists no threshold for MF. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis indicates that PEA mainly prompts symbolic green innovation of enterprises, and the PEA-GI relationship is more obvious in non-state-owned companies and regions with higher marketization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although green technology innovation is an important means to balance the environment and economy, few studies have analyzed the employment effects of green technology innovation in developing countries. Therefore, this paper employs the panel data of 286 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2017 to empirically test the impact of various green technology innovations on urban employment. Meanwhile, from the perspectives of air quality and industrial structure optimization, the influencing mechanism of green technology innovation on employment is deeply analyzed. The results reveal that all kinds of green technology innovation can significantly increase the employment level of the city, and the promotion effect is strongest in the 2nd year after the patent application. According to the results of heterogeneity analysis, key cities of environmental protection and non-resource cities are more likely to generate positive employment effects through green technology innovation. Finally, the mediation effect test model confirms that green technology innovation can promote employment by improving air quality and causing industrial structure optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking new energy vehicle (NEV) listed enterprises from 2010 to 2018 as a research sample, this paper empirically analyzes the innovative impact of VC on NEV enterprises by applying the difference-in-difference (DID) model. The results indicate that the intervention of VC has a positive and significant impact on the green technological innovation in NEV enterprises, an impact which is reflected in a significant increase in the number of green invention and green utility model patent applications. Compared with state-owned NEV enterprises, VC plays a more significant role in promoting the green technological innovation of private and foreign NEV enterprises. In the NEV industry chain, VC has significantly promoted green technological innovation of upstream and midstream NEV enterprises. From the perspective of VC, it also finds that, compared with independent and local VC, it is the syndicated and non-local VC that have a more positive and significant impact on green technological innovation in the NEV enterprises. Besides, the high-reputation of VC has not had an "incubating" effect on green technological innovation in NEV enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the data of Chinese A-share-listed companies from 2004 to 2017, this paper builds a difference-in-differences model to investigate the impact of air pollution collaborative governance on green technology innovation. The main results show that air pollution collaborative governance promotes green technology innovation, and a series of robustness tests also verify this conclusion. Patent heterogeneity analysis suggests that air pollution collaborative governance increases the number of green utility model patents, but has no obvious impact on green invention patents. In terms of enterprise heterogeneity, air pollution collaborative governance can effectively stimulate the non-heavy-polluting enterprises to innovate green technology, but the incentive effect on heavy-polluting enterprises is not evident. Moreover, by constructing a mediating effect model and a moderating effect model, mechanism analysis reveals that R&D investment plays a positive mediating role in the impact of air pollution collaborative governance on green technology innovation, and the increase of government subsidy also enhances the promotion effect of air pollution collaborative governance on green technology innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the reform and opening up, China's urbanization level has rapidly increased. However, urban civilization construction lags behind, creating a series of problems, such as environmental pollution, further restricting the healthy and sustainable development of cities. Therefore, China has carried out top-down civilized city construction led by the government. This paper regards the "national civilized city" selection implemented by the Chinese government as a quasi-natural experiment and empirically tests the impact of government-led civilized city construction on urban green innovation and the mechanism of this impact by using the progressive difference-in-differences (DID) model based on panel data of 281 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2018. The results show that civilized city construction contributes to increasing the level of urban green innovation, which is supported by a series of robustness tests conducted through variable substitution and sample adjustment. The quantile regression results show that the higher the level of green innovation, the stronger the green innovation effect of civilized city construction. This finding indicates that the marginal effect of green innovation in civilized city construction is gradually enhanced with the gradual increase in the level of green innovation in cities. The mediating effect analysis shows that civilized city construction can provide financial support for green innovation activities by promoting the expansion of the urban investment scale, which, in turn, increases the level of urban green innovation. In addition, environmental regulation can strengthen the promoting effect of civilized city construction on green innovation. These findings hold important theoretical and practical significance for understanding the green innovation effect of government-led civilized city construction and further leveraging the important role of government in the construction of the urban business environment as a means to promote urban investment clustering, lay the factor foundation for green innovation and strengthen the synergy between environmental regulation policies and civilized city construction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important means of environmental regulation, environmental punishment lacks in empirical evidence on its impact on regional green technology innovation in China. Based on panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2020, this paper systematically examines the relationship between environmental punishment and regional green technology innovation. It is found that environmental punishment has the quantity and quality enhancing effects on regional green technology innovation, and the quantity enhancing effect is greater than the quality enhancing effect. There is no significant effect difference between monetary punishment and non monetary punishment on green technology innovation effect, but the effect of punishment on institutions is obviously greater than that of punishment on individuals. And the performance of ecological provinces and provinces with better legal environment is also relatively better. Environmental punishment enhances the quantity and quality of green technology innovation through pressure, and improves the quality of green technology innovation through deterrence. Besides, in China, deterrence promotes regional green technology innovation together with the Central Government's environmental protection inspection, the national green manufacturing strategies and other policies concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an emerging technology, industrial intelligence focus on the integration of artificial intelligence and production, which creates a new access to achieve the goal of carbon emissions reduction. Using data on provincial panel data from 2006 to 2019 in China, we empirically analyze the impact and spatial effects of industrial intelligence on industrial carbon intensity from multiple dimensions. Results show an inverse proportionality between industrial intelligence and industrial carbon intensity, and the mechanism is to promote green technology innovation. Our results remain robust after accounting for endogenous issues. Viewed from spatial effect, industrial intelligence can inhibit not only the industrial carbon intensity of the region but also the surrounding areas. More strikingly, the impact of industrial intelligence in the eastern region is more obvious than that in the central and western regions. This paper effectively complements the research on the influencing factors of industrial carbon intensity and provides a reliable empirical basis for industrial intelligence to reduce industrial carbon intensity, as well as a policy reference for the green development of the industrial sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the theoretical knowledge of technological innovation, this paper designs a sensor data value incubation model and a sensor data collection model to collect the original data on green innovation efficiency. In order to explore the spatial and temporal differentiation characteristics of China's provincial green innovation efficiency and the spatial spillover effect of China's provincial green innovation efficiency, the entropy weight TOPSIS model is adopted to measure the green innovation efficiency of China's 30 provinces (cities) from 2005 to 2021 and analyze its temporal and spatial evolution characteristics. This paper uses an exploratory spatial data analysis method to prove the agglomeration phenomenon of China's provincial green innovation efficiency in the ground space. Finally, a spatial econometric model is introduced to study the impact of government R&D investment, green supervision, and green innovation efficiency on spatial spillover effects. The study found the following three conclusions: First, the efficiency of green innovation in China's provinces has been fluctuating in stages, and the overall trend has been increasing year by year. The overall efficiency of green innovation in China's provinces is low, and the overall development is uneven and uncoordinated. Second, from the results of the spatial autocorrelation test, there is a clear and positive spatial correlation between China's provincial green innovation efficiency and agglomeration in the geospatial space. Third, government R&D inputs and different types of green regulations have a significant impact on green innovation efficiency and have significant spatial spillover effects. Along from the eastern region to the central region, then to the northeast and western regions, the degree of effect on green innovation efficiency and the intensity of spatial spillover effects have gradually weakened. It is believed that the government should reduce R&D investment in the eastern region and increase green sewage charges. Instead, the government should raise R&D investment in the central, northeast, and western regions and offer enterprises green innovation subsidies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Rapid economic growth leads to such problems as resource scarcity and environmental degradation. Local governments successively take measures such as technological innovation to solve atmospheric environmental pollution; however, technological innovation fails to fundamentally alleviate atmospheric environmental pollution. Therefore, local governments come to realize the importance of green-technology innovation, which means an inevitable choice for various countries in the world to seek long-term development and win competitive advantage. Under such circumstances, this paper chooses the panel data of 30 provinces and regions in China from 2005 to 2018, takes environmental regulation as the threshold variable, and empirically analyzes the relationship between green-technology innovation and atmospheric environmental pollution by constructing a Spatial Measurement Model and Panel Regression Model. As evinced, green-technology innovation has a significant inhibitory effect and a spatial spillover effect on atmospheric environmental pollution. When environmental regulation reaches a level of intensity, green-technology innovation can effectively curb atmospheric environmental pollution. Accordingly, relevant parties should strengthen green-technology innovation, coordinate the development of the governance system of green-technology innovation, establish a joint prevention and control mechanism, increase the investment in green technology research and development, and augment the role of green-technology innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a relative dearth of empirical studies quantitatively analyzing the implementation effect of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones (GFRIs) on green innovation at the micro-enterprise level. Thus, this paper aims to construct the difference-in-difference-in-difference method to explore the influence of Chinese GFRIs on corporate green innovation of heavy-polluting enterprises based on green patent data. Results show that the pilot policy has significantly decreased green patents of heavy-polluting enterprises by approximately 42.64%, indicating that the policy has a significant innovation inhibition effect and fails to exert the Porter effect. Furthermore, establishing GFRIs has a more effective inhibition effect on the green invention patent than the green utility model patent. Moreover, although enterprises of different scales have different innovation capabilities, the negative impact of GFRIs on green innovation of heavy-polluting enterprises is widespread. Still, the negative impact is more pronounced for big-scale enterprises. The above empirical evidence is essential in formulating green finance development strategies and promoting green economic transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the data of China's A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2003 to 2014 and takes the pilot emission trading policy in 2007 for a quasinatural experiment to explore the role of the pilot emission trading policy in promoting enterprises' green technology innovation. The empirical research shows a Porter effect in the emission trading system in China. Specifically, first, the emission trading policy can significantly promote enterprises' green technology innovation in pilot areas. In addition, the incentive effect of emission trading policy on green technology innovation is significantly different due to the types of green patents. Second, the incentive effect of emission trading policy on enterprises' green technology innovation is different due to the nature and scale of enterprises. The incentive effect is greater in state-owned enterprises than in non-state-owned enterprises, and it is greater in large-scale enterprises than in small-scale enterprises. Finally, the incentive effect of emission trading policy on enterprises' green technology innovation has heterogeneity of regions. It has the greatest incentive effect in eastern region, followed by western region and then central region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To further clarify the relationship between environmental regulation and green technology innovation and discuss how environmental regulation affects green technology innovation through import trade, this paper analyzes the impacts of environmental regulation and import trade on green technology innovation and the transmission effect of import trade based on panel data for 30 provinces in China for 2008 to 2017. The results show that (1) environmental regulation first plays a role in promoting green technology innovation and then restrains it, and import trade can significantly promote green technology innovation; (2) under the constraints of stronger environmental regulations, import trade has a significantly positive effect on green technology innovation; and (3) environmental regulation can further enhance the technology spillover effects of import trade in regions with high absorptive capacity and regions with high levels of R&D investment. This paper analyzes the impact of environmental regulation on green technology innovation from the perspective of import trade and makes up for the deficiencies of existing research. It also lays a foundation for scholars to study the relationship between environmental regulation and green technology innovation in the midst of heterogeneous government regulation capabilities and industries in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green innovation is an essential support for environmentally sustainable development. However, little attention has been given to the impact of financial expansion on green innovation in the existing literature, and there is a lack of studies based on the perspective of the financial geographical supply structure. This study uses latitude and longitude information to construct firm-level financial geo-density data in China. It examines the impact of financial geo-density on a firm's green innovation and mechanisms. The results reveal that as financial geo-density increases, green innovation quantity increases, but green innovation quality decreases. The findings of the mechanism test indicate that an increase in financial geo-density decreases the cost of financing and boosts bank competition in the vicinity of the firm, hence resulting in a rise in the firms' green innovation quantity. Nevertheless, the degree of bank competition increased by financial geo-density increase negatively affects firms' green innovation quality. Heterogeneity analysis shows that financial geo-density has a more significant positive impact on a firm's green innovation quantity in high environmental regulation areas and high-pollution industries. Firms with low innovation capabilities are the main group responsible for the decline in green innovation quality. For firms located in low environmental regulation areas and medium- to light-pollution industries, financial geo-density has a more significant inhibition effect on green innovation quality. Further tests have shown that the extent to which financial geo-density enhances a firm's green innovation quantity diminishes as market segmentation increases. A new concept of financial development policies based on green development and innovation is presented in this paper for developing economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from traditional logistics to green and low-carbon logistics is crucial and inevitable due to the pressure of climate change and sustainable development in China. Meanwhile, technological innovation is perceived as an important factor affecting the development of the logistics industry. To explore the impacts of technological innovation and other factors and to propose proper policies based on the results, this study utilizes a generalized estimating equations (GEE) regression model to analyze panel data of 30 provinces during 2001–2019. Firstly, the entropy weight method is applied to calculate the green logistics development level based on an index system considering green factors. Secondly, a GEE model which considers the correlation among different observations is used to investigate the impacts of crucial factors on the green logistics development level. Moreover, regional heterogeneity is also analyzed in this paper by comparing the regression results of the Eastern region, Central region, and Western region. Based on the above analysis, several conclusions are drawn: (1) In terms of the average green logistics development levels, the Eastern region ranks 1st, the Central region ranks 2nd, and the Western region ranks 3rd. (2) GEE regression model is proved effective in our sample. (3) For the full sample, technological innovation, trade openness, and logistics infrastructure positively affect the green logistics development level; while, government regulation and energy intensity negatively influence the green logistics development level. (4) Regional heterogeneity is confirmed in our sample. Related policy recommendations are proposed based on our regional regression results. Take the Eastern region as an example, the local governments in the Eastern region should upgrade the manufacturing industry, reduce government financial investment in the transportation sector, and enhance environmental control expenditure in the transportation sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green finance is considered a new force for the optimization of industrial structure. With the quasi-natural experiment of the green finance reform and innovation pilot zone, the impact of the green finance reform and innovation pilot zone on the optimization of industrial structure is empirically tested. The research found that: First, although green finance reform and innovation pilot zone generally improved the optimization of the industrial structure, it had an inhibitory effect on the advancement of industrial structure. Although it promoted the rationalization, it produced negative spatial spillovers; second, the green finance reform and innovation pilot zone mainly promoted the optimization of industrial structure through three paths: foreign investment, technological innovation, and infrastructure improvement; finally, provinces with large economies and good central-local relations had a stronger role in promoting industrial structure rationalization, while small economies and poor central-local relations dragged down the advancement of industrial structure. In summary, this paper finds that while green finance can contribute to the optimization of industrial structure in general, there are many aspects of it that deserve attention in more subtle ways. The conclusions enrich the research on the influencing factors of industrial structure and also provide a reference for improving the green financial system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we theoretically discuss and empirically show how IT capability spurs companies towards greener strategies. Based on the data of listed Chinese manufacturing companies from 2008 to 2018, using a panel regression model, the results show that: (1) corporate IT capability can promote green technological innovation. (2) Compared with state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the IT effect is more significant for non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs); compared with regions with weak environmental regulation, the IT effect is more significant in regions with strong environmental regulation. (3) Additionally, we found that the promotion of IT software capability is stronger than IT hardware capability, and they have a synergistic effect on green technological innovation. Overall, our findings offer a new point view for a deeper understanding of green technological innovation, and provide microscopic evidence for the objective evaluation of corporate IT capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the incentive mechanism of green finance fails to fully promote green technology innovation in industrial enterprises, local government environmental regulations become an important tool in correcting this market failure. However, due to the "follow the cost" hypothesis, the moderating effect of the local government environmental regulation is heterogeneous. In order to explore the impact mechanism of green finance development on the efficiency of green technology innovation in industrial enterprises, spatial effects as well as the heterogeneous moderating effect of local government environmental regulation, this paper systematically evaluates the development level of green finance in 30 provinces in China from 2009 to 2019. It estimates the efficiency of green technology innovation in industrial enterprises using the super-efficiency SBM model, and empirically analyzes the impact mechanism and moderating effect using the spatial Durbin model. The results show that: (1) green finance not only positively impacts the efficiency improvement of green technology innovation in industrial enterprises but also has significant spatial spillover effects; (2) local government environmental regulation has a nonlinear "inverted U-shaped" moderating effect between the green finance development and the efficiency of green technology innovation in industrial enterprises. Based on the research conclusions, this paper proposes policy recommendations from the perspectives of deepening the regional connectivity of green finance and promoting joint regulation by local governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the data of Chinese listed companies from 2008 to 2019, selects a space autoregressive difference-in-difference model (SAR-DID) to research environmental regulation policies on corporate green innovation, and empirically tests the impact of Energy Consumption Rights Trading (ECRT), Environmental Protection Interview (EPI), and the simultaneous implementation of the two policies (ECRT and EPI). The research results show that enterprise green innovation has produced a positive spatial spillover effect. The implementation of ECRT has a positive effect on corporate green innovation and has a long-term effect, while the implementation of EPI also has a positive effect on corporate green innovation, but the effect is "immediate" and less pronounced and lasting than ECRT. The promotion effect of ECRT and EPI is higher than the net effect of the two policies, but it will weaken over time. The promotion effect of environmental regulation policies on corporate green innovation is more concentrated in the eastern regions and non-heavy polluting industries. Therefore, China should implement both ECRT and EPI simultaneously, with ECRT in the first place and EPI in the second, and actively explore ways to keep the policies effective in the long-term. Depending on the incentive impact of environmental regulations in different regions and industries, differentiated environmental regulations should be applied to promote the technological transformation of enterprises and strengthen green innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green technology innovation plays an important role in achieving high-quality economic development in China. It is of great theoretical value and practical significance to study the effect of the Energy-consuming Right Trading Policy (ERTP) on green technology innovation. Based on the panel data of 279 cities in China from 2006 to 2020, this paper analyzes the effect of the ERTR on urban green technology innovation capacity (GTIC) by using the difference-in-differences (DID) model. The study shows that the ERTR can significantly improve urban GTIC and validates the “Weak Porter Hypothesis”. After a series of robustness tests, this conclusion still holds. Furthermore, the mechanism analysis shows that the ERTP can promote urban GTIC through industrial structure upgrading. In addition, the heterogeneity analysis indicates that the ERTR can significantly improve the GTIC of eastern cities and non-resource cities. This paper fills the gap of related studies and provides an important reference for improving the ERTP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global environmental crisis evolves, China’s traditional industries have serious problems of high energy consumption, high emission and low energy efficiency. Developing green industries has become an important direction of China’s industrial transformation and upgrading. This paper selects scientific innovation industry as a typical representative of green industry and studies its financing environment assessment. In order to solve the financing dilemma faced by the science and technology innovation industry, this paper puts forward the evaluation method of the financing environment of science and technology innovation industry based on Bayesian network from the Angle of industry particularity. In this paper, Netica software is used to construct a Bayesian network model of the financing environment of the science and technology innovation industry, and the financing environment of the science and technology innovation industry in 2016-2020 is inferred according to the annual probability distribution. Then, the sensitivity analysis is carried out, and the hierarchical policy simulation is used to simulate the conditional probability of the initial node and the intermediate node respectively, so as to determine the impact of each node on the financing environment, and finally obtain the optimization path. The research results can be of great value for improving the financing environment of scientific innovation industry and promoting the development of green industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) is an important ecological barrier in China. From new perspectives, this paper explores the mechanism of high-speed rail (HSR) for green economic growth (GEG) in the YREB. This paper constructs 108 city panel data at the prefecture level and above in the YREB from 2003 to 2020. Difference-in-differences (DID) is adopted to research the impact of high-speed rail on GEG in the YREB. (1) HSR has significantly improved the GEG of the YREB. The effect value is 4.88%. The parallel trend test suggests that DID is valid. A time-varying instrumental variable combining average altitude and historical railway network is constructed for the endogeneity test. (2) Propensity score matching (PSM) and DID (PSM-DID) were employed to test the sample selection bias. (3) A battery of robustness tests, including the placebo test, variable replacement, and policy interference exclusion, is carried out. The conclusions are still valid. (4) HSR can promote the GEG of the YREB by encouraging technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and increasing ecological efficiency. The contribution rate from the largest to the smallest is ecological efficiency, industrial upgrading, and technological innovation. (5) Heterogeneity analysis shows that HSR has played an important role in encouraging GEG in the eastern, peripheral cities, and the downstream cities of the YREB. Finally, this paper puts forward policy suggestions for promoting GEG in the YREB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]