*2.3. The Role of Resource Endowment (RE) in Mediating the Connection between Environmental Regulations (ERs) and Sustainable Growth (SG)*

According to Yang and Song (2019), the link between *ERs* and the "resource curse" is inverted U-shaped, and the "resource curse" can only be broken when the *ERs*' intensity passes the turning point [19]. In complete samples, *ERs* can also break the "resource curse" issue indirectly by increasing green technical innovation, reducing resource reliance, and speeding up enterprise development. Reducing financing constraints and implementing government subsidies are one of the main sources of *RE* for energy firms. Financial and tax assistance are the key way for *SG* of firms in nations with excellent renewable energy development [52,53]. *RE* has the potential to not only assist the long-term growth of energy businesses, but also to achieve the government's environmental policy objectives. Environmental management and debt finance, according to Xu and Chen (2020), have a good association with firm sustainability [54]. When businesses have less social capital, such as government subsidies and limited funding, their growth is constrained to some extent. The impact of *ERs* on business *SG* will be readily apparent at this time. The better the *RE*, the less influenced by Ers it is, reducing the impact of Ers on the *SG* of businesses and promoting their long-term development.

In addition, this paper reviews in the literature review the findings of the effect of *ERs* on factors such as CO2 emissions, firm structure, and *SG* in different research contexts in different literature. Based on the results of existing studies, the hypotheses to be tested in this paper are presented:

**Hypothesis 3a (H3a).** *With the increased resource endowment, the impact of environmental regulation on sustainable growth will be weakened.*

**Hypothesis 3a (H3b).** *With the decreased resource endowment, the impact of environmental regulation on sustainable growth will be strengthened.*

## **3. Research Methodology**
