Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Green finance and corporate environmental violations: a test from the perspective of illegal pollution discharge behaviors

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Green finance aims to intervene in investment and financing behaviors through financial means, so as to promote upgrading of heavily polluting industries. Whether it can reduce illegal pollution discharge behaviors is the focus of this paper. This paper is to explore the impact of green finance on illegal emissions of heavy polluting firms. Taking green finance pilot zones (GFPZ) in 2017 as a quasi-natural experiment, the paper measures illegal emission behaviors based on day-night difference of PM2.5 at the nearest atmospheric monitoring points and tests the impact of GFPZ on illegal emissions based on triple difference model (DDD). The results show that GFPZ inhibits illegal emissions. Influence path result shows that GFPZ reduces illegal emissions by increasing financing constraint, green innovation, and fulfilling social responsibility. At the same time, this paper also notes that regulatory distance has an interference effect on GFPZ. GFPZ aggravates illegal emission as heavy polluting firms — financial institution’s distance is more than 40 km. GFPZ curbs illegal pollution more significantly as heavy polluting firms — environmental protection bureau distance is within 30 km. This paper aims to reveal the guiding effect of green finance on emission behavior of polluting firms and provide policy references for reducing emission and promoting green finance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

References

  • Agarwal S, Hauswald R (2010) Distance and private information in lending. Rev Financ Stud 23(7):2757–2788

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aizawa M, Yang C (2010) Green credit, green stimulus, green revolution? China’s mobilization of banks for environmental cleanup. J Environ Dev 19(2):119–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen L, Zhou R, Chang Y, Zhou Y (2020) Does green industrial policy promote the sustainable growth of polluting firms? Evidences from China. Sci Total Environ 11:142927

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen Q, Wu W, Guo Y, Li J, Wei F (2021) Environmental impact, treatment technology and monitoring system of ship domestic sewage: a review. Sci Total Environ 811:151410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coval JD, Moskowitz TJ (2001) The geography of investment: informed trading and asset prices. J Polit Econ 109:811–841

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Damato A, Mazzanti M, Nicolli F, Zoli M (2018) Illegal waste disposal: enforcement actions and decentralized environmental policy. Socio Econ Plan Sci 64:56–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dong HW (2007) Why does environmental compliance cost more than penalty? A legal analysis on environmental acts of enterprises in China. Front Environ Sci Eng China 1(4):434–442

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hauswald R, Marquez R (2006) Competition and strategic information acquisition in credit markets. Rev Financ Stud 19(3):967–1000

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He L, Zhang L, Zhong Z, Wang D, Wang F (2018a) Green credit, renewable energy investment and green economy development: empirical analysis based on 150 listed companies of China. J Clean Prod 208:363–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He Z, Shen W, Li Q, Xu S, Zhao B, Long R, Chen H (2018b) Investigating external and internal pressures on corporate environmental behavior in papermaking enterprises of China. J Clean Prod 172:1193–1211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He L, Liu R, Zhong Z, Wang D, Xia Y (2019) Can green financial development promote renewable energy investment efficiency? A consideration of bank credit. Renew Energy 143(12):974–984

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hering L, Poncet S (2014) Environmental policy and exports: evidence from Chinese cities. J Environ Econ Manag 68(2):296–318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hua C, Chen J, & Liu C (2018). Supervision and punishment mechanism of construction waste illegal-dumping based on game theory approach. Int Conf Constr Real Estate Manag 2018.

  • Ichinose D, Yamamoto M (2011) On the relationship between the provision of waste management service and illegal dumping. Resour Energy Econ 33(1):79–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ishii K, Furuichi T, Nagao Y (2013) A needs analysis method for land-use planning of illegal dumping sites: a case study in aomori-iwate, japan. Waste Manag 33(2):445–455

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jin D, Niu M (2011) The paradox of green credit in China. Energy Procedia 5:1979–1986

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kang H, Jung SY, Lee H (2019) The impact of green credit policy on manufacturers' efforts to reduce suppliers’ pollution. J Clean Prod 248:119271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kraus S, Rehman SU, García FJS (2020) Corporate social responsibility and environmental performance: the mediating role of environmental strategy and green innovation. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 160:120262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li H, Lu J (2020) Can regional integration control transboundary water pollution? A test from the Yangtze River economic belt. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(2):28288–28305

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li H, Lu J (2021) Can stable environmental protection officials’ tenure reduce illegal emissions? Socio Econ Plan Sci 1:101055

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liang Y (2014) The study of pattern and measures on green finance promoting low-carbon economic development. Manag Des Eng 16:85–89

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu JY, Xia Y, Fan Y, Lin SM, Wu J (2015) Assessment of a green credit policy aimed at energy-intensive industries in China based on a financial CGE model. J Clean Prod 163:293–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu X, Wang E, Cai D (2019) Green credit policy, property rights and debt financing: quasi-natural experimental evidence from China. Financ Res Lett 29:129–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu J (2022) Can environmental protection tax aggravate illegal pollution discharge of heavy polluting enterprises? Environ Sci Pollut Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-18002-3

  • Lu J, Li B, Li H, Zhang Y (2019) Sustainability of enterprise export expansion from the perspective of environmental information disclosure. J Clean Prod 252:119839

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pan D, Fan W (2021) Benefits of environmental information disclosure in managing water pollution: evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28(3):1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Santos AC, Mendes P, Teixeira MR (2019) Social life cycle analysis as a tool for sustainable management of illegal waste dumping in municipal services. J Clean Prod:1141–1149

  • Seror N, Portnov BA (2020) Estimating the effectiveness of different environmental law enforcement policies on illegal C&D waste dumping in Israel. Waste Manag 102:241–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sinha A, Mishra S, Sharif A, & Yarovaya L (2021). Does green financing help to improve the environmental & social responsibility? Designing SDG framework through advanced quantile modelling. MPRA Paper.

  • Song M, Xie Q, Shen Z (2021) Impact of green credit on high-efficiency utilization of energy in china considering environmental constraints. Energy Policy 153(22):112267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sotamenou J, De Jaeger S, Rousseau S (2019) Drivers of legal and illegal solid waste disposal in the Global South - the case of households in Yaoundé (Cameroon). J Environ Manag 240:321–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang DY, Zhang Y (2020) Do shareholders benefit from green bonds? J Corp Finan 63(4):5–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Tu Q, Mo J, Liu Z, Gong C, Fan Y (2021) Using green finance to counteract the adverse effects of covid-19 pandemic on renewable energy investment-the case of offshore wind power in china. Energy Policy 158:112542

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weisbenner ZI (2005) Local does as local is: information content of the geography of individual investors common stock investments. J Financ 60(1):267–306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu X, Gao M (2021) Effects of different environmental regulations and their heterogeneity on air pollution control in China. J Regul Econ 60:140–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu X, Li J (2020) Asymmetric impacts of the policy and development of green credit on the debt financing cost and maturity of different types of enterprises in China. J Clean Prod 264:121574

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang W, Fan B, Desouza KC (2019) Spatial-temporal effect of household solid waste on illegal dumping. J Clean Prod 227:313–324

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan M, Chen W, Qin J (2021) Bank-based financing and catch-up innovation: a three-way interaction approach. Econ Lett 209:110089

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang B, Yang Y, Bi J (2011) Tracking the implementation of green credit policy in China: top-down perspective and bottom-up reform. J Environ Manag 92(4):1321–1327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y, Wang J, Xue Y, Yang J (2018) Impact of environmental regulations on green technological innovative behavior: an empirical study in China. J Clean Prod 188(7):763–773

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang S, Wu Z, Wang Y, Hao Y (2021) Fostering green development with green finance: an empirical study on the environmental effect of green credit policy in China. J Environ Manag 296:113159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou H, Xu G (2022) Research on the impact of green finance on China’s regional ecological development based on system GMM model. Res Policy 75:102454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou X, Zuo M, Deng GT, Zhou CF (2011) Review of secrete industry discharge in China and the corresponding reasons. Adv Mater Res 356-360:2658–2661

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu N, Bu Y, Jin M, Mbroh N (2019) Green financial behavior and green development strategy of Chinese power companies in the context of carbon tax. J Clean Prod 245:118908

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University, Changsha, China

    Yalong Zhang

  2. College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China

    Juan Lu

Authors
  1. Yalong Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Juan Lu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

YZ: data curation, visualization, investigation. JL: conceptualization, methodology, software, writing — original draft preparation, software and writing — review and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juan Lu.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

Not applicable

Consent to participate

Not applicable

Consent for publication

Not applicable

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Nicholas Apergis

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, Y., Lu, J. Green finance and corporate environmental violations: a test from the perspective of illegal pollution discharge behaviors. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 48477–48490 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19228-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19228-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation