Abstract
Emission trading scheme (ETS) is one of the most important ways to mitigate carbon emissions. As the largest carbon emitter in the world, China implemented ETS policy in 2013. Whether ETS policy can boost enterprise green technological innovation (GTI) quality in China remains to be discussed after reviewing the previous studies. All 318 A-share listed enterprises of China’s eight high-carbon emission industries from 2008 to 2021 are chosen to investigate the influence of the ETS policy on enterprise GTI quality by the difference-in-difference (DID) method. Furthermore, heterogeneous effects of ETS policy on the quality of enterprise GTI are analyzed from three aspects: enterprise life cycle, corporate environmental management, and industry classification. The findings indicate that China’s ETS policy has a positive influence on the quality of GTI in eight high-carbon emission industries. Further heterogeneity analysis demonstrates (1) China’s ETS policy has varying effects on the eight high-carbon emission industries; (2) China’s ETS policy can improve GTI quality of enterprises in the maturity stage of their life cycle, but not for those in their growth stage. (3) Comparing the effect of China’s ETS policy, GTI quality of enterprises with higher environmental management score is stimulated, while GTI quality of those with lower score is not.
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Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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This research was funded by “Jiangsu Provincial Federation of Philosophy and Social Sciences: Jiangsu Province Social Science Application excellent engineering-special project of financial development (22SCB-12)” and “Education Department of Jiangsu province major project (2019SJZDA037).”
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Methodology, writing—original draft, investigation, data collection, and writing—reviewing and editing were performed by Wei Qin. Supervision, resources, conceptualization, writing—reviewing and editing, and funding acquisition were performed by Yu Xie. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Wei Qin, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Highlights
• China’s emission trading scheme (ETS) policy has a positive influence on the quality of enterprise green technological innovation (GTI) with the evidence of 318 A-shared listed companies from eight high-carbon emission industries.
• The effects of China’s ETS policy on enterprise GTI quality in the eight high-carbon emission industries are heterogeneous.
• China’s ETS policy can improve GTI quality of enterprises in the maturity stage of their life cycle, but not for those in the growth stage.
• Comparing the effect of China’s ETS policy, GTI quality of enterprises with higher environmental management score is stimulated, while GTI quality of those with lower score is not.
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Qin, W., Xie, Y. The impact of China’s emission trading scheme policy on enterprise green technological innovation quality: evidence from eight high-carbon emission industries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 103877–103897 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-29590-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-29590-7