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Mitigating pollution discharges from firms and strengthening environmental governance are key objectives for political leaders. A panel dataset comprising Chinese firms and officials' individual information is constructed to investigate the impact of female political leaders on firm pollution discharges. First, the estimation results show that female political leaders can significantly reduce firm pollution discharges by 12.3 % and this finding is robustly supported by a series of empirical strategies. Second, the heterogeneity analysis suggests that the impact of female leaders on reducing firm pollution discharges becomes more pronounced for larger-scale firms, those located in cities with older secretaries, a higher proportion of tertiary industries, and higher levels of economic growth. Moreover, the reduction effect on firm pollution discharges is found to be stronger for state-owned firms and those located in the eastern region. Third, mechanism analysis indicates that female political leaders effectively mitigate firm pollution discharges through the facilitation of technological innovation. These findings underscore the pivotal role of gender in environmental governance and offer valuable political insights for curbing firm pollution discharges. • The study examines the influence of female political leaders on firm pollution discharges. • Female political leaders significantly reduce firm pollution discharges. • The impact of female political leaders on firm pollution discharges is heterogeneous. • Female political leaders promote technological innovation to reduce firm pollution discharges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Chinese political context, local government officials have substantial influence over the implementation of policies. The approach to urban environmental management varies significantly between female and male officials, which in turn affects governance outcomes differently. Consequently, the gender of local officials plays a crucial role in shaping urban environmental conditions. This study investigates the impact of female officials on urban environmental pollution in China over the period from 2003 to 2018. Utilizing data from the China Urban Statistical Yearbook combined with individual profiles of officials at the prefecture level, the analysis reveals a notable decrease in urban environmental pollution associated with female leadership. Notably, the effect is more pronounced among younger female officials compared to their older counterparts, and those with higher education levels are particularly effective in curbing pollution emissions. The pollution abatement effect of female officials is found to be stronger in the central regions compared to the eastern and western regions. The robustness of these findings is confirmed through checks against alternative explanatory variables, permutation tests, and treatment effect analyses. Overall, this research contributes new perspectives on management strategies that can sisgnificantly improve urban environmental quality in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extant body of academic literature has thoroughly examined the influence of political promotion institutions on various aspects of economic growth and corporate behavior. However, there remains a gap in the understanding the extent and mechanisms through which the establishment of economic growth targets influences firms' pollution emissions. Addressing this gap, we construct datasets that encapsulate both micro-level and macro-level perspectives to examine the impact of economic growth targets on corporate pollution. We find that an increase in economic growth targets leads to a significant rise in pollution emissions from industrial firms. To address potential endogeneity issues, we employ various strategies, and our results remain robust across these different approaches. We then estimate the heterogeneous impact of economic growth targets and demonstrate that the positive effect of these targets on pollution emissions tends to be less pronounced for firms situated in cities governed by female mayors. Conversely, the effect appears more pronounced for firms located in the western region, those operating in cities led by older mayors, and those in cities where mayors have lower levels of education. Finally, we explore potential mechanisms through which economic growth targets impact corporate pollution. Our results show that at the firm level, a higher economic growth target primarily leads to increased pollution emissions from enterprises by reducing firms' investment in pollution control. At the city level, an elevation in economic growth targets predominantly results in escalated enterprise-related pollution, chiefly due to its hindrance of urban green innovation, reduction in fiscal allocations for science and technology, and a decrease in educational fiscal outlays. These empirical findings strongly advocate for the implementation of measures aimed at dissuading prefecture-level city governments from formulating excessively ambitious economic growth targets, as a viable strategy for mitigating pollution stemming from manufacturing firms in developing nations. In view of this, our research is conducive to advancing the process of building a sustainable development path in China and providing reliable solutions to global ecological challenges. • Examines the effect of economic growth targets on pollution emissions by industrial firms. • Identifies the causal mechanisms linking economic growth targets to pollution emissions. • Explores the heterogeneous effects of economic growth targets on pollution emissions. • Finds increased pollution effects in western regions and in cities with older, less-educated mayors. • Advocates policy changes to curb pollution emissions arising from ambitious growth targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yangtze River Major Conservation (YRMC) Action has been strategically crafted to catalyze industrial evolution within the Yangtze River basin, aligning with China's goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, particularly from the corporate perspective. Despite its significance, the potential impact of this initiative on corporate environmental performance (CEP) remains understudied. To address this gap, we utilize panel data from Chinese firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares (2012–2020) and employ the difference-in-differences (DID) method to investigate the causal relationship between the YRMC Action and the CEP. The main findings are threefold: (i) Firms located within a 100 km radius of the Yangtze River's main stream have exhibited an average increase of 0.1497 units in CEP due to the implementation of the YRMC Action, which are consistently validated across robustness tests; (ii) Mechanisms driving this enhancement include incentivizing firms to undertake green technological R&D programs, securing governmental green R&D subsidies, and credit incentives; and (iii) Heterogeneity analyses show that firms closer to the main stream of the Yangtze River, particularly those upstream and led by senior executives with awareness of green initiatives, have contributed to more pronounced improvements in CEP. This paper highlights policy implications for optimizing the incentive effects of the YRMC Action and strengthening the environmental regulatory governance to ensure enduring enhancements in CEP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the influence of political system changes, particularly official turnover, on pollution reduction in Chinese industrial firms—a response to the environmental challenges posed by China's economic growth. Utilizing micro-panel data from 2000 to 2014 and an official turnover database, this study assesses how these turnovers affect firm-level pollution. The analysis confirms that official turnovers significantly reduce emissions, with the effect more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises, under officials who are male, hold PhDs, and are older. This impact is also stronger in areas with a larger tertiary sectors and higher economic growth. A detailed comparison reveals that mayoral turnovers have a greater abatement effect than those of municipal secretaries, especially in cases of abnormal turnovers. Crucially, this study demonstrates that mayoral turnovers lead to pollution reduction by promoting corporate exports and innovation. The baseline regression results, confirmed as robust after extensive robustness checks, underscore the significance of these findings. This paper sheds light on the political dynamics of environmental governance in China, advocating bureaucratic reforms to reduce emissions and providing strategic recommendations to improve national environmental sustainability. • Political turnover in China leads to significant pollution reduction in industrial firms. • The effect of official turnovers on reducing emissions is more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises. • Turnover effects are stronger under older, male officials with PhDs. • Mayoral changes have a greater impact on pollution reduction than municipal secretaries, particularly in abnormal turnovers. • Mayor turnovers contribute to pollution reduction by promoting exports and innovation in firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental issues are closely related to the economic development of human society, and reducing environmental pollution during production is of great significance for environmental protection. This paper utilizes data from Chinese industrial enterprises (2001–2010), and establishes a fixed effects model to examine whether minimum wage standards are important in reducing non-clean energy consumption by enterprises. The results indicate that an increase in the monthly minimum wage leads to a significant reduction in coal consumption by firms, while the change in the hourly minimum wage do not exert a statistically significant influence on coal consumption by firms. The above empirical results remain robust after conducting a series of endogeneity tests. The mechanism test shows that innovation and exports serve as mediating variables between the minimum wage and coal consumption. Specifically, raising the minimum wage can incentivize enterprises to innovate in production and expand their exports, resulting in a decrease in the consumption of non-clean energy. Finally, through the heterogeneity test, we observe that increases in the minimum wage have varying effects on coal consumption among firms with different numbers of employees and different ages. Based on the research findings of this paper, we propose that the government should comprehensively consider and improve relevant systems, formulate scientifically-based minimum wage standards, take into account both workers' rights and interests as well as enterprises' profits, actively promote energy transformation in enterprises, and ultimately achieve long-term development of the social environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]