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Paper mill sludge (PMS) is featured with a high content of cellulose and hemicellulose, and using its characteristics to make paperboard can achieve a high-value utilization of PMS, which has attracted growing interest. In this study, currently prevalent landfill, incineration technologies (generating heat and electricity by incineration), and three paperboard technologies (medium density fiberboard, pulp board, and corrugated paper) were evaluated and compared via life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) methods. LCA results show that the PMS-to-pulp board outperforms others with an energy conservation and emission reduction (ECER) value of − 2.86 × 10−8, while the landfill exhibits the highest overall environmental impact with an ECER value of 4.80 × 10−9. LCC results reveal that the PMS-to-pulp board delivers the highest economic profit with $257.357, while the landfill is the lowest with $ − 35.63. The PMS paperboard technologies are more economically friendly than the incineration technologies due to additional electricity/steam consumption during the PMS pre-drying process in incineration. In addition, different scenarios were set up to explore national GHG emission reduction potential by increasing paperboard technologies application rate and reducing the proportion of landfill and incineration. The scenario analysis suggests that replacing 90% of landfill and incineration ratio with PMS paperboard technologies could tremendously improve the overall emission reduction performance with − 9.08 × 1010 kg CO2 eq. This result indicates that the PMS treatment technology transformation has a significant favorable impact on the achievement of the "carbon neutrality" target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing literature ignores to consider multiple types of pollutants when analyzing energy efficiency and its convergence. Under this background, using SuperSBM-GML model, the improved entropy method, and convergence model, this paper calculates the green total-factor energy efficiency and its evolution trend of 35 China's industrial sub-sectors considering multiple pollutants, and analyzes its convergence. The results indicate that the average score of industrial green total-factor energy efficiency is low, and there are significant differences among sub-sectors: "Utilization of waste resources" is the highest, while "Manufacture of paper and paper products" is the lowest. The green total-factor energy efficiency shows an overall upward trend from 2006 to 2021, the main driving force comes from technological progress, but numerous sub-sectors have not sufficiently caught up with existing cutting-edge technologies. Specifically, the growth rate of green total-factor energy efficiency in high-energy-consumption sub-sectors is higher than low-to-medium-energy-consumption sub-sectors. There are both σ-convergence and β-convergence in low-to-medium-energy-consumption group, indicating that development of sub-sectors is stable and outstanding. Nevertheless, the high-energy-consumption group only exhibits conditional β-convergence, revealing an imbalance in energy efficiency development. Consequently, formulating the benchmark level of energy efficiency and developing energy efficiency "leader" system are suggested for low-to-medium and high-energy-consumption sub-sectors, respectively. [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]

Green development is the main theme of modern development in China and even the world. Green development depends on green technology innovation (GTI). Therefore, for developing countries like China in the stage of economic transition, it is urgent to accelerate GTI to gain sustained advantages in the new round of international competition. As an important representative of contemporary rapid transportation, high-speed railway (HSR) can not only alleviate the rapidly growing transportation demand of the public, but also have potential benefits to the energy consumption structure and environmental quality. Whether and how HSR affects GTI has become the focus of this paper. Hence, by employing the panel data of 286 cities in China from 2007 to 2018 with the time-varying DID model, this paper verifies that HSR development can contribute to GTI. The main findings of this paper are as follows: (1) The operation of HSR can not only make the incremental development of GTI, but also improve the quality of GTI simultaneously. Moreover, the quality improvement effect of HSR is greater than the quantity increment effect. (2) Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effect of HSR on GTI is more significant for cities that have implemented LCCP. (3) This paper verifies the mediating effect of high-quality human capital. The opening of HSR further stimulates GTI by improving the level of high-quality human capital in cities and increasing the opportunities for knowledge exchange and diffusion. Based on the above findings, this paper proposes some policy recommendations to help developing countries achieve GTI with positive externalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how National Eco-industrial Demonstration Parks (NEDP) in China affects carbon emission efficiency. The difference-in-differences (DID) strategy is used for analysis. This paper finds that the construction of NEDP is conducive to the improvement of carbon emission efficiency, and the findings remain robust through placebo tests and propensity score matching. Heterogeneity analysis shows NEDP construction has greater utility on carbon efficiency in non-resource-based cities as well as in environmentally friendly cities. The mechanism analysis found that green technology innovation, industrial restructuring, and the relocation of industrial enterprises are effective ways to improve carbon efficiency in NEDP. Finally, this paper finds that the construction of NEDP has obvious spatial spillover effects on carbon efficiency, which can effectively heighten the carbon efficiency level of this locality and nearby areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green economy is the core content of the high-quality economic development, and the digital economy is the new driving force to accelerate the realization of high-quality economic development. In this regard, this paper selects 248 resource-based cities in China from 2011 to 2019 as the research objects and uses the fixed effect model and mediation effect model to test the relationship between digital economy and regional green total factor productivity. We get the following conclusions: First, there is the nonlinear relationship between digital economy and regional green total factor productivity, and this relationship shows the inverted U-shape. Secondly, digital economy can influence regional green total factor productivity through the path transmission mechanism of regional technological innovation, industrial structure, and environmental regulation. Finally, the effect of digital economy on regional green total factor productivity is heterogeneous, especially in the eastern region and cities with high human capital level. Based on the digital economy, the findings of this paper provide theoretical basis and reference suggestions for promoting the green development of regional economy. The government should attach importance to regional green development, actively guide the digital economy to promote green development, accelerate the development of the digital economy, and achieve high-quality economic development finally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the path of sustainable development, the key to achieving green and low-carbon transformation lies in green technology innovation (GTI), and how to effectively coordinate the relationship between green finance (GF) and GTI is an issue worth studying. This paper constructed an evaluation system of GF and GTI and combined them with the coupled coordination degree model to explore their coordination of Chinese provinces from 2012 to 2019. Then, the core network evolution and spatial structure characteristics of GTI and GF were studied using the modified gravity model. Finally, based on the link prediction, the general future network prediction is made to provide guidance and direction for the future GTI and GF development and construction. The results found that the coordination level between GF and GTI has been continuously improved from 0.356 to 0.436. The core network structure is keeping changing with their connection becoming more complex, and there is still room for optimization. Network centrality characteristics show that the spatial spillover effects are stronger in the more economically developed regions. The overall network possibility prediction shows the potential network connections in different urban agglomerations. This paper provides a certain reference role for China and developing countries to predict the GF and GTI cooperation network development in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper firstly uses the DEA-based Range Directional Model (RDM) and the Global Malmquist–Luenberger (GML) index to calculate the Green Efficiency Index (GEI) of China's cities under the constraints of pollution emissions, energy consumption, and natural resource occupancy. The GEI shows that the average green efficiency of the 285 sample cities achieved a total improvement of 10.1% from 2003 to 2019. The average cumulative improvement rate of green efficiency in the 110 cities in Pollutants Emission Trading Pilot Scheme (PETPS) from 2003 to 2019 was 14.9%, which was higher than the average of non-pilot cities (8.6%). Subsequently, this paper constructs a spatial difference-in-differences model (Spatial-DID) to empirically test the green efficiency promotion effect of PETPS from two aspects: local and spatial spillover. It is found that PETPS can promote the progress of local green efficiency in pilot cities, but there is a spatial spillover effect that is not conducive to the green efficiency progress in surrounding areas. The results of the mediation effect analysis show that the launch of PETPS will significantly reduce the clustering of industrial production activities in the pilot cities, thereby accelerating the green efficiency progress. However, PETPS can also promote clustering of industrial production activities in surrounding areas, thereby inhibiting the green efficiency progress in surrounding areas. These analysis results can fully explain the cause of the negative spatial spillover effect of PETPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green fiscal policy is crucial for achieving green economic recovery and improving green total factor productivity (GTFP). Based on this, using panel data from 30 regions in China from 2009 to 2020, this paper analyzes the impact of green fiscal policy on GTFP. The results show that: (1) Green fiscal policy can improve GTFP, thus achieving green economic recovery. After a series of robustness tests, the conclusion is still valid; (2) Green fiscal policy can have a stronger improvement effect on GTFP in regions with high levels of both public environmental concerns and economic development; (3) Green fiscal policy mainly improves GTFP by promoting green technology innovation and upgrading industrial structure. These findings not only enrich the literature on green fiscal policy and green recovery but also serve as a reference for governmental departments. The government should promote green technology innovation through green fiscal policy and raise public environmental concerns to help achieve green economic recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a quasi-natural experiment of national innovative city pilot policy (NICPP) is carried out to investigate the impact of the NICPP on green technology innovation (GTI) and its intrinsic mechanism with the method of difference-in-differences. It is found that the NICPP significantly enhances GTI, and there is a certain lag and persistence in this effect. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the higher the administrative level and the more the geographical advantages of NICPP, the more obvious the driving effect of GTI. The mechanism test shows that the NICPP has an effect on the GTI through three channels: innovation factor input, agglomeration effect of science and technology talent, and entrepreneurial vitality empowerment. The findings of this study provide policy insights for further optimizing the construction of innovative cities and then promoting GTI development, ultimately realizing green dynamics transformation and high-quality development of China's economy. [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]

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]

One of the ways to fight against global warming is by means of green technological progress. This paper explores the nonlinear relationship between R&D investment and green technological progress based on panel threshold regression model using panel data of 26 manufacturing sub-sectors in China from 2004 to 2017. The results show that the double-threshold model can better explain the nonlinear relationship between the two, and the R&D investment in the three ranges of low, medium, and high levels can significantly promote green technological progress in China's manufacturing industry. However, with the improvement of R&D investment level, the promotion effect of R&D investment on the progress of manufacturing green technology is decreasing, which explains the low R&D intensity of China's manufacturing industry to a certain extent. When the level of R&D investment reaches a certain level, its promoting effect on manufacturing industry's green technological progress will be greatly reduced, and the motivation of enterprises to invest in R&D based on self-interest will decrease, so that the scale of R&D investment will be lower than the optimal scale of society. R&D investment can also improve green technical efficiency change. In addition, environmental regulation can promote green technological progress in manufacturing industry. However, due to the implementation of output-oriented environmental regulation policies, China's environmental regulation can inhibit the improvement of green technical efficiency change. Based on the conclusion, this paper argues that China should implement differentiated R&D subsidy policies for manufacturing enterprises, especially to increase R&D subsidies for enterprises with a medium level of R&D investment, and formulate appropriate environmental regulatory policies, to promote green and low-carbon transformation of China's manufacturing sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Basin Horizontal Ecological Compensation Mechanism (BHEC) is a significant institutional innovation in China's water environment management, aimed at achieving green, low-carbon, and high-quality development in the basin. This paper examines the current status of the spatial association network of green low-carbon development in Xin'an River basin, using social network analysis based on data from prefecture-level cities between 2006 and 2019. Using a dual difference model, the paper explores the important role of BHEC in promoting green low-carbon development from the perspectives of production and consumption and analyzes the path of BHEC's promotion of green low-carbon development in detail. The results indicate that (1) the green low-carbon development in the Xin'an River basin is universally connected in space, but this connection is uneven among the cities in the basin, presenting a network spatial structure with the central region as the core and the north and south regions approaching the core. (2) BHEC contributes to green low-carbon development, and the "two-wheel drive" of green technology progress and green technology efficiency is essential to improve green low-carbon development. (3) From the perspective of consumption affecting green low-carbon development, the positive impact of BHEC on green low-carbon development is inseparable from the synergistic guarantee of public participation. (4) From the production side of green low-carbon development, the ecological effect, structural effect, and technological effect are significant transmission factors of compensation policies affecting green low-carbon development. (5) The "blood transfusion" pilot policy is more helpful to improve green low-carbon development, and compensation policy has positive spillover effects. Finally, the paper argues that the trans-basin ecological compensation policy is expected to become a long-term mechanism to promote green low-carbon and high-quality development in the basin, providing a theoretical and practical basis for developing countries to achieve green low-carbon development through an ecological compensation system. [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]

This paper explores the spatial impact effects and spatio-temporal heterogeneity of the digital economy on urban carbon emissions (CO2). Specifically, firstly, the Digital Economy Index (DEI) system of 285 cities in China was constructed and the Global Principal Component Analysis (GPCA) was applied to evaluate the digital economy level of Chinese cities. Based on spatial correlation and spatial heterogeneity, the paper explores the global spatial impact and spatio-temporal heterogeneity of the impact of digital economy on CO2 using spatial Durbin model (SDM) and geographic time-weighted regression (GTWR), respectively. And the mechanism variables are used to further demonstrate the mechanism effect and nonlinear characteristics of the impact of digital economy on CO2. The findings indicate that (1) the advancement of the digital economy is beneficial for achieving carbon abatement goals, and the impact of the digital economy on CO2 mitigation remains stable across several robustness tests. (2) The spatial spillover effect of the digital economy on the impact of carbon reduction is not significant. And there is significant temporal and spatial heterogeneity in the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions. (3) According to the mechanism analysis, the digital economy reduces carbon emissions by encouraging the development of green technologies and promoting the modernization of industrial structures. And there are non-linear characteristics of this effect. This study concludes that the digital economy can support China's goal of achieving "carbon peak and carbon neutrality." However, it is important to consider the differences in urban development over time and space. Leveraging the city's strengths to develop a digital economy in a unique way that will help achieve China's carbon reduction goals. [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]

The serious consequences of climate warming have increasingly become a globe agenda in recent decades. China has been actively participating in various initiatives to address global climate change and has made commitments to reduce carbon emissions. Although the logistics industry is regarded as the "new driving force of national economic development", its carbon intensity is relatively high. Therefore, whether the logistics industry can develop in a green and low-carbon way is very crucial. This paper takes the green logistics efficiency of China's provincial logistics industry as the research object. The Super-SBM model is used to measure the China's green logistics efficiency, then the general dynamic characteristics is depicted by kernel density analysis. With the GML (Global Malmquist-Luenberger) index model, the reasons for the changes in green logistics efficiency are explained. Finally, Moran's I index is used to analyze the spatial correlation of green logistics efficiency in each province. The results show that the green logistics efficiency in China is at a low level, but with an upward trend. China's green logistics efficiency has a significant positive spatial correlation, showing a zonal pattern of high in the east and low in the west, and a polarization phenomenon. In addition, the bottleneck of the overall development of green logistics efficiency in China depends on the level of green technology. Furthermore, the results also imply that green technology advancement is an inherent key factor for green logistics efficiency to achieve growth. [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]

Due to their ability to generate green industrial growth, green finance policies are important both in the greening of China's industries and in the promoting of further improvements to its financial system. In this paper, reform pilot zones are used as a quasi-natural experiment with select panel data from 2007 to 2019 taken from 30 provinces in China, and used the DID method to empirically measure the impact of green finance reform on industrial GTFP and its mechanism of action. The findings demonstrate that reforming green finance greatly enhances GTFP of industry during the review period. This result is still valid after carrying out robustness tests. The heterogeneity study finds that the policy plays a large part in fostering GTFP in the middle stage of industrialization but not in the late stage. Further analyses of its transmission mechanism demonstrate that green finance reform mostly fosters industrial green growth through an innovation effect and a structural effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between digital finance and carbon emissions and explores the ecological effects of digital finance. Based on a panel data of 256 cities in China from 2011 to 2018, this paper investigates the impact of digital finance on carbon emissions and its intrinsic mechanisms. First, digital finance significantly suppresses the intensity of regional carbon emission, and the breadth of coverage, depth of use, and degree of digital support of digital finance together curb regional carbon emissions, with the strongest suppressive effect being the breadth of coverage. In addition, the regression results remain significant after a series of robustness tests. Second, it reveals the potential mechanism of digital finance to curb urban carbon emissions. These mechanisms include the three channels: promoting industrial advancement, green technology innovation, and optimizing labor resource allocation. Third, the heterogeneity test finds that the energy saving and emission reduction effects of digital finance are significantly stronger in non-low-carbon pilot cities with low urbanization rates, confirming the emission reduction utility of digital finance development. Therefore, we should take advantage of digital finance to improve the green development of financial services and adopt diverse policy measures according to local conditions to maximize the ecological effects of digital finance on energy saving and emission reduction. In the context of the development strategy of "carbon peaking and carbon neutral," this study has some implications for management in developing a regional green development system supported by digital finance. [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]

As a kind of enterprises most affected by green policies—heavily polluting enterprises, whether the government's relevant policies can achieve its policy goals and what impact will be exerted on such enterprises is a critical issue. Based on the data of listed heavily polluting enterprises in China from 2007 to 2020, this paper uses the difference in differences model to test the impact of green credit policies on the liquidity risk of heavily polluting enterprises. The results show that the green credit policies intensify the liquidity risk of heavily polluting enterprises. Moreover, the green credit policies increase the financial and stock liquidity risks of heavily polluting enterprises by reducing the long-term debt ratio and information transparency. Green innovation and equity balance weaken the positive impact of green credit policies on the liquidity risk of heavily polluting enterprises. Heavily polluting enterprises can reduce the impact of green credit policies on their liquidity risk by increasing investment in green innovation and improving ownership structure. [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]

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]

As an innovative financial instrument, green credit is a new driving force for environmental governance. To study the impact of green credit on environmental quality, this paper uses the provincial panel data from 2007 to 2020 to construct a panel model for analysis based on the comprehensive environmental quality index. At the same time, it discusses the mechanism and regional heterogeneity of green credit affecting environmental quality. The results show that green credit significantly improves the overall quality of the environment, which has a significant effect on air quality and green quality but has no significant impact on water quality and soil quality. Green credit improves environmental quality by improving green technology innovation and promoting industrial structure upgrading. At the same time, there is obvious heterogeneity in the environmental effect of green credit. Among them, the environmental quality improvement effect of the eastern region and the carbon emission pilot area is more evident than that of the central and western regions and the non-carbon emission pilot area. This paper has important implications for promoting the development of green credit and giving full play to the environmental effects of green credit to achieve sustainable goals. [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]

With the rising global concern over environment and energy issues, there are many scholars incorporating them into total factor productivity (TFP) analytical framework. This paper aims to outline the dynamic change trend and convergence characteristics of green total factor productivity (GTFP) of 14 sub-sectors in China's service industry. This is of great significance to the coordinated development and green transformation of sub-sectors of China's service industry. This paper commences to gauge and decompose GTFP of China's service industry by cutting-edge epsilon-based measure (EBM) generalizing slacks-based measure (SBM) and radial measure as well as Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) productivity index, and to examine the existence of convergence hypothesis in China's service industry. The core conclusions are as follows: (1) the average annual growth rate of GTFP in China's service industry is 1.00%, and there exists heterogeneity for GTFP in different sub-sectors; (2) there are phenomena of σ-convergence, absolute β-convergence, and conditional β-convergence in GTFP of China's overall service industry, producer service industry, and consumer-oriented service industry. The main policy suggestions include: increasing investment in green technology innovation of the service industry, formulating more effective industrial development planning and energy policies, and optimizing energy structure and industry structure of the service industry. [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]

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]

The relationship between digital finance and regional green innovation has been partially confirmed, yet the role of environmental regulation in it remains unexplored. Therefore, this paper examines the impact of digital finance on regional green innovation and tests the moderating role of environmental regulation using Chinese city-level data from 2011 to 2019 as a research sample. The results show that digital finance can significantly promote regional green innovation by alleviating regional financing constraints and increasing regional R&D investment. Besides, digital finance has apparent regional difference effects (the contribution of digital finance to regional green innovation is greater in eastern China than in western China, and the development of digital finance in neighbouring regions has a negative transmission effect on local green innovation). Finally, environmental regulation positively moderates the relationship between digital finance and regional green innovation. This paper explores the relationship between digital finance and regional green innovation from the perspective of environmental regulation, providing empirical evidence to promote regional green innovation. [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]

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 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]

To ameliorate the efficiency of urban green innovation is the key to realizing green economic transition. This paper constructs a Super-NSBM model with green patents as the intermediate output, uses this model to assess and decompose the green innovation efficiency of 284 Chinese cities, and finally analyzes the spatiotemporal characteristics and influential factors. The research result showed the gap of urban green innovation total efficiency among various regions in China is narrowing, while the spatial differentiation of decomposition efficiency is deepening. This means that a spatial collaborative innovation division pattern of "Eastern Region R&D + Southwest and Northeast Region Transformation" has gradually formed. In the meantime, this paper also found that the spillover effects of the urban green innovation total efficiency and phased efficiency all can form a significant demonstration effect on the surrounding areas. Finally, financial agglomeration, industrial structure, knowledge sharing, economic activity, higher education, opening, and environmental regulations may affect urban green innovation total efficiency and phased efficiency, and this effect has regional heterogeneity. [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]

As an ecological barrier to ensure the high-quality development of China's economy, the Yangtze River Economic Belt has attracted more and more attention from academic circles on how to promote the green development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. This paper uses the SBM directional distance function and the Malmquist–Luenberger index to measure the green total factor productivity of 110 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2006 to 2018, and then based on the panel threshold model to empirically explore the intensity of environmental regulations that induce trade openness and promote green total factor productivity. Studies have shown that: Firstly, trade openness has significantly inhibited the increase in green total factor productivity, but environmental regulations can play a positive regulatory role, that is increasing the intensity of environmental regulation can alleviate the adverse effects of trade openness, and it is mainly to improve the adverse effects by promoting the progress of green technology. Secondly, the results of the panel threshold model show that environmental regulations have a nonlinear regulatory effect on trade openness and green total factor productivity. When the intensity of environmental regulations crosses the second threshold, trade openness has a significant positive effect on the impact of green total factor productivity. Finally, the heterogeneity results show that in order to reverse the adverse impact of trade openness on green total factor productivity, the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Economic Belt should formulate relatively strict environmental regulations. [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]

Balancing economic growth with resources and the environment to achieve sustainable development is a key issue in the development of all countries, and researchers are trying to find feasible development paths. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of human capital levels on green economic efficiency (GEE) and the underlying mechanisms in 280 prefecture-level cities in China and covering the 2003–2019 period. In addition, we calculate GEE including undesired outputs based on a super-efficiency slack-based measure (SBM) model, and we construct panel regression and moderating effect models for empirical studies. The results of the baseline regression study show that the improvement in the human capital level contributes to the GEE of prefecture-level cities. Among the control variables, the economic development level, foreign direct investment (FDI), city size, and the science and technology innovation (STI) level positively affect GEE, while industrialization and environmental regulation negatively affect GEE. The study results concerning the mechanism of action indicate that industrial structure upgrading plays a positive moderating role. That is, industrial structure upgrading can strengthen the effect of human capital on GEE, which is further clarified. This study suggests that government policies must favor the cultivation of high-level human capital, especially in the environmental protection industry, and that talent support strategies should be differentiated between regions to promote industrial structure upgrading and human capital matching through green technology development. Modern human capital theory reveals the important role of human capital in improving economic efficiency and provides new ideas for achieving sustainable development. This paper explores the role of human capital in improving the GEE based on the human capital perspective, which is important for research on the pathways to achieve sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of China's OFDI (outward foreign direct investment) is a unique feature of the "Belt and Road" project. Does China's OFDI have a green halo effect on countries along the Belt and Road (B&R)? Is this green halo effect somehow asymmetrical? What is the underlying mechanism? This paper systematically examines how China's OFDI exerts its influence on green technology spillovers, based on 56 B&R countries' 2003–2019 panel data. This study makes three significant findings: Firstly, China's OFDI has positive asymmetric characteristics in promoting green technology spillovers to host countries mentioned, which have lower income levels and openness. Secondly, strict relative environmental regulation can act as a "pressure pool," significantly enhancing the "green halo effect"; Thirdly, China's OFDI can help host countries obtain more green technology spillovers through three channels: expanding host countries' economic scale, upgrading host countries' industrial structure, and suppressing host countries' use of non-renewable energy. These findings point the way for 56 host countries to better accessing green technology spillovers. [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]

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]

They have provided useful suggestions and corrections to an earlier draft of our paper." now reads:"This study was funded by the "National Natural Science Foundation of China" (Grant numbers: [72274029] and [71774027]) and "The Liaoning BaiQianWan Talents Program". The original article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-40084-x. [Extracted from the article]

The green credit is one of the effective tools to save energy and reduce pollution, which mainly applies in industry. Thus, this paper explores the impact of green credit on the upgrading of China's industrial structure from the perspective of industrial sectors, by means of a dynamic panel model with the dada from 2005 to 2016. The upgrading of industrial structure is divided into three dimensions to be analyzed—rationalization of industrial structure (RIS), advancement of industrial structure (AIS), and greenization of industrial structure (GIS). The empirical results are also explained by four influence mechanisms—resource allocation, technological innovation, credit catalysis, and policy guidance mechanism. This paper finds that on the national level, green credit has a positive impact on the upgrading of China's industrial structure and plays a significant role in promoting the greenization and advancement of industrial structure. However, on the regional level, the effect of green credit is more complex. First, green credit has a significant positive effect on the GIS in the eastern, central, and western regions of China, which suggests that green credit is conductive to the cleaner production of industry across the country. Second, green credit also has a positive impact on the AIS in these three regions, but the effect is only significant in the eastern region. Third, in terms of the RIS, the effect of green credit is positive but not significant in the eastern and central regions. However, it is negative, not significant as well, in the western region, which can be explained from the perspective of the resource allocation and technological innovation mechanism. In addition, there is a significant positive correlation between the previous period and the current value of RIS, AIS, and GIS, which indicates that there is a significant positive inertia dynamic feature in the upgrading of China's industrial structure. [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]

The reform of environmental management systems is key to improving environmental pollution treatment and green technology innovation. Based on panel data on 30 provincial administrative regions in China for 2008 to 2016, this paper analyzes the impacts of environmental decentralization and environmental protection investment on green technology innovation. It is first found that environmental decentralization promotes green technology innovation after inhibition. Similar effects are found for environmental administrative decentralization, environmental monitoring decentralization, and environmental supervision decentralization. Second, in the long run, environmental decentralization in developed and low-emission regions is more conducive to green technology innovation. Third, environmental pollution treatment investment has a significant inhibiting effect on green technology innovation under high levels of environmental decentralization, and the inhibiting effects of industrial pollution source treatment investment and "three simultaneous" construction project investments are particularly obvious. This paper explores green technology innovation as the goal of environmental decentralization, which is the driving force behind pollution control. From the perspective of environmental protection investment, the paper further analyzes the impact of environmental decentralization on green technology innovation. The study has important reference value for determining reasonable levels of environmental decentralization among different levels of governance and in formulating differentiated strategies of environmental decentralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]