Search Results (222)

Low-carbon development is an important area that must be focused on in order to cope with climate change. Based on the institutional theory, this paper uses a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2008 to 2021 and constructs a difference-in-differences model to examine the impact of low-carbon city pilot policy on corporate environmental and social responsibility information disclosure. The results show that the implementation of low-carbon city pilot policy in a region where companies are located significantly promotes corporate environmental and social responsibility information disclosure, and the degree of digital transformation of enterprises in the pilot region has a moderating effect on it. The mechanism analysis reveals that the policy promotes the corporate environmental and social responsibility information disclosure primarily by enhancing the environmental performance and increasing media attention, and heterogeneity analysis shows that when the enterprise has green investors or belongs to an industry with low carbon emissions, the policy has a more significant impact. Additionally, the study finds that the low-carbon city pilot policy has a positive impact on the quality of corporate environmental information disclosure. In terms of the goals of Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality, this study provides new evidence on how low-carbon city pilot policy influences corporate environmental and social responsibility, offering valuable insights for advancing the country’s low-carbon development agenda. Full article

Carbon fees are scheduled to be levied in Taiwan, posing unprecedented challenges for the steel industry, given its high emissions and risk of carbon leakage. This study explores the potential impact of this policy on steel industry performance by incorporating projected carbon fees into the efficiency assessment. The Slacks-Based Measure (SBM) and Super SBM models in Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which account for negative data, are used to evaluate the operational efficiencies of 30 listed steel firms across supply chain segments in 2024 under baseline and carbon fee scenarios. Results reveal that incorporating the carbon fees mitigates the upward bias that overestimates inefficient firms’ SBM scores, triggers broad efficiency declines and ranking reshuffling (most severe upstream, moderate midstream, and least downstream), and widens cross-firm efficiency dispersion. Moreover, the study finds that excessive carbon fees and operating profit deficiencies are the main input- and output-side drivers of inefficiency, highlighting improvement potential in carbon cost management and profitability gains. To date, the efficiency implications of carbon fees for Taiwan’s steel industry have remained underexplored. Our findings offer empirical insights and a timely reference for steel firms to refine sustainability strategies ahead of forthcoming carbon fees. Full article

Against the backdrop of stricter global carbon emission policies, corporate green transition performance has become a key driver for advancing sustainable development. Based on data from A-share listed companies in China from 2015 to 2022, this study empirically examines the mechanisms by which digital transformation impacts corporate green transformation performance. The findings reveal that (1) Digital transformation significantly promotes corporate green transformation, with supply chain innovation serving as a critical mediating factor; (2) The environmental awareness of senior executives and the strategic proactiveness of enterprises exert a significant moderating effect on this relationship. Enhanced environmental awareness among executives drives enterprises to leverage digital tools for green transformation; conversely, excessive strategic proactiveness exerts a constraining influenc; (3) Heterogeneity analysis indicates that firm-specific characteristics, industry attributes, and regional disparities produce differentiated effects. State-owned enterprises, benefiting from their policy support and resource advantages, are more likely to advance green innovation through enterprise digital transformation. Non-high-tech industries tend to optimize production processes, control pollution, and improve operational efficiency through digitalization. Moreover, in regions with stringent environmental regulations, the positive impact of digitalization on both innovation performance and environmental outcomes becomes particularly pronounced. This study enriches theoretical understanding of the integration between digitalization and greening, and by uncovering the pivotal role of supply chain innovation provides practical guidance and policy insights for enterprises advancing sustainable development. Full article

As global climate change intensifies with unprecedented urgency, nations worldwide have increasingly adopted market-based environmental regulatory instruments to advance carbon reduction objectives. In 2017, China launched energy rights trading pilots, thereby providing a crucial policy instrument for controlling total energy consumption at its source. However, the specific impacts and transmission pathways through which this system influences corporate carbon reduction behavior remain insufficiently explored through rigorous empirical investigation. Drawing upon panel data from heavy-polluting companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share markets, this study employs a difference-in-differences methodology to identify the causal effects of energy rights trading systems on corporate carbon reduction. Our findings reveal that energy rights trading systems significantly reduce corporate carbon emission intensity, generating pronounced emission reduction effects. Further mechanism analysis demonstrates that this system operates through two principal pathways: first, by promoting increased green investment among enterprises, whereby short-term emission reductions are achieved through procurement of energy-saving equipment and environmental protection facilities, and second, by stimulating corporate green technological innovation, whereby long-term sustainable emission reductions are realized through the development of energy-saving technologies and clean processes. Additionally, the research reveals that enterprises with lower financing constraints and stronger supply chain bargaining power respond more actively to policy implementation, with policy effects exhibiting significant heterogeneity. This study not only enriches the theoretical understanding of market-based environmental regulatory policy effects but also provides crucial empirical evidence for improving the energy rights trading system design and enhancing policy implementation effectiveness, thereby offering important policy insights for promoting corporate green transformation and achieving “dual carbon” objectives. Full article

As global climate change progresses and the “dual carbon” strategy advances, market-based carbon emission trading systems are of great theoretical and practical importance for green technology innovation. In this paper, A-share listed advanced manufacturing enterprises in pilot regions from 2010 to 2023 are taken as samples, and a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) method is employed to probe into the mechanism by which this policy influences green technology innovation in China’s advanced manufacturing enterprises. Empirical analysis reveals that carbon emission trading exerts a remarkable promoting impact on green technology innovation in China’s advanced manufacturing enterprises. The study indicates that the policy’s influence on enterprises is indirect; specifically, government policies encourage enterprises to raise their R&D investment, thus facilitating green technology innovation to some degree. Moreover, carbon emission rights prices play a positive moderating role, which is vital for maintaining the policy’s incentive function in long-term green transition—within a reasonable range, carbon prices can enhance the policy’s promoting effect. In addition, enterprise-specific features like company size and asset-liability ratio have certain effects on enterprises’ green technology innovation behaviors. The research findings will offer a theoretical foundation and practical reference for optimizing China’s carbon market mechanism in advanced manufacturing and advancing the green transformation of China’s advanced manufacturing industry. Full article

As a pivotal instrument for integrating environmental governance with a low-carbon transition, green finance plays a critical role in achieving China’s dual-carbon goals. This study draws on a panel dataset covering 2008–2023, combining city-level indices of green finance development with firm-level emissions data from Chinese A-share listed companies. It investigates how green finance influences firms’ ability to reduce pollution and carbon emissions in a coordinated way, as well as the mechanisms and boundary conditions of this relationship. The results reveal that green finance significantly enhances firms’ synergistic performance in pollution and carbon abatement. The effect operates mainly through two channels: reallocating resources more efficiently and strengthening ESG performance. The benefits are particularly evident among firms with a stronger green innovation capacity, higher levels of carbon market participation, and more advanced environmental management systems. Green finance also helps deter corporate greenwashing. In addition, financial technology and environmental information disclosure amplify its positive impact. These findings highlight the need to deepen the integration of ESG evaluation with capital allocation and to design green financial instruments suited to firms at different stages of transition. They also point to the importance of harnessing the complementarities of fintech and environmental transparency to further enhance firms’ sustainable performance. Full article

As China pursues its dual carbon goals—peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, the energy sector is central to the country’s climate strategy. This study investigates the impact of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance on firm value in China’s energy sector, an industry critical to national carbon emissions and energy consumption. Using a panel dataset of 20,225 firm-year observations from A-share listed firms between 2016 and 2023, we apply regression models to assess how ESG performance affects firm value, with controls for industry characteristics and policy effects. The results show that ESG performance significantly enhances firm value, especially among non-state-owned firms and those in high-pollution industries. ESG performance also facilitates access to green bond financing, providing firms with enhanced capital for green investments, thereby boosting market value. Furthermore, we find that firms in regions with higher green development attention benefit more from ESG practices, with local carbon trading policies playing a key role in improving firm competitiveness and market performance. This study provides critical insights into how ESG strategies and carbon governance policies influence firm performance in the energy sector. The findings offer practical implications for policymakers aiming to support low-carbon industrial transformation and for firms seeking to integrate sustainability into their long-term strategic planning. These insights are crucial for driving the successful implementation of China’s dual carbon strategy. Full article

In the context of mounting climate impacts and growing urgency to meet the Paris Agreement goals, the ocean is now increasingly being recognised not just as a victim of climate change, but as an indispensable part of the solution. Research has demonstrated that readily actionable ocean-based climate solutions can help close the emissions gap (the difference between the greenhouse gas emission reductions needed to limit global warming to 1.5 °C, and projected global emissions considering current national pledges and policies) by providing approximately a third of the mitigation needed to keep the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 °C goal within reach. This mitigation potential (of fully actioning these solutions) is unequally divided across seven key ocean-based action areas (listed in decreasing order of magnitude): phasing out offshore oil and gas; deploying offshore renewable energy infrastructure; decarbonising maritime transport and associated infrastructure; decarbonising ocean and aquatic food value chains; carbon capture and storage; marine and coastal conservation and restoration; and decarbonising coastal tourism. We argue that achieving the full potential of ocean climate solutions will require smart governance, drastically increased financial investment, and international cooperation. Accomplishing this, however, will bring strong co-benefits for biodiversity, food systems, and coastal resilience. The Third United Nations Ocean Conference and 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 30) present rare opportunities to mainstream the ocean into global climate strategies. Full article

Macro policy regulation centered on carbon emissions profoundly influences the path for enterprises to achieve low-carbon transformation. Using panel data from Chinese A-share listed companies over the period from 2014 to 2023, this study adopts the methods of panel regression, moderating effect and mediating effect. The empirical research finds that: (1) Policy uncertainty from carbon emission constraints significantly incentivizes industrial enterprises to adopt greener governance strategies. (2) The mechanism analysis indicates that the uncertainty posed by carbon emission constraints influences corporate green governance by enhancing regional green finance development, intensifying corporate financing constraints, and improving the quality of corporate green innovation. (3) Enterprises with substantial environmental protection investments and stronger reputations are less susceptible to changes in their green governance strategies triggered by carbon emission constraint policies. (4) The effects of carbon constraint policy uncertainty on green governance strategies of industrial enterprises exhibit heterogeneity. Specifically, these effects are relatively weaker for non-heavy-polluting enterprises located in carbon emission trading pilot cities, enterprises with higher information disclosure quality, and enterprises whose senior executives have backgrounds in environmental protection. Ultimately, to promote the sustainable development of industrial enterprises, this study provides three recommendations. Full article

Manufacturing enterprises, as significant contributors to high carbon emissions, play a crucial role in effectively reducing carbon emission intensity, which is essential for China to successfully achieve its “dual carbon” goals. This study examines the period from 2010 to 2022, focusing on manufacturing enterprises listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares to investigate the effects of green financial reform on carbon and pollutant emissions. Our findings reveal that the results from the parallel trend test and the regression analysis of the Difference-in-Differences (DID) model indicate that the implementation of green financial reform has a negative impact on the carbon and pollutant emissions of manufacturing enterprises, which is supported by a series of robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the emission reduction effect of green financial reform on pollutants is significant only in manufacturing enterprises with low industry competitiveness, while the inhibitory effect on carbon emissions is significant only in those with high industry competitiveness. Furthermore, the emission reduction effects are significant in highly polluting industries, non-state-owned enterprises, and small-scale firms. Green technological innovation and financing constraints serve as the channels connecting green financial reform with emission reduction and carbon mitigation. The tax burden negatively moderates this process, while environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance positively moderates it. Full article

Corporate carbon emissions reporting is central to climate accountability, yet significant gaps remain in transparency, completeness, and methodological rigor. This study introduces the Carbon Integrity Index (CIX), a structured framework for assessing disclosure quality through ten indicators covering Scopes 1, 2, and 3. Unlike existing standards focused on reporting requirements, the CIX evaluates how well emissions are reported, addressing methodological transparency, scope coverage, and treatment of uncertainty. Applied to 2022 sustainability reports from companies listed in Spain’s IBEX 35 index, the framework reveals an average score of 5.7/10, with 69% of firms achieving passing results. While Scope 2 reporting was generally robust (mean: 0.82), Scope 3 disclosures—often representing the majority of emissions—and uncertainty assessments were systematically weak (mean: 0.08). Findings provide empirical support for legitimacy and institutional theory, showing how formal compliance can mask performative compliance that limits meaningful accountability. Sectoral differences suggest that institutional pressures and operational complexity shape divergent transparency pathways, raising concerns that universal standards may entrench reporting disparities. The CIX offers regulators, investors, and companies a practical tool for distinguishing symbolic from substantive disclosure, enabling more informed decision-making and strengthening the role of reporting in driving the transition to net-zero business models. Full article

Against the backdrop of increasingly severe global carbon emissions and China’s commitment to achieving carbon peaking by 2030, accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy has become an urgent priority. As fundamental microeconomic entities, enterprises play a crucial role in the national governance of carbon emissions. This study uses panel data on Chinese A share listed companies from 2019 to 2023 and employs fixed effects models that control for firm, year, and industry effect to analyze how ESG performance influences carbon emissions and through which mechanism. The findings indicate that improvements in ESG ratings significantly reduce firms’ carbon emissions. This effect operates primarily through the following two channels: (1) promoting green technological innovation, thereby enhancing environmental performance, and (2) increasing the attention of financial analysts, which strengthens external monitoring. The heterogeneity analysis further reveals that the mitigating effect of ESG improvement on carbon emissions is more pronounced in firms with a lower proportion of institutional ownership, while this effect is relatively weaker in firms with higher institutional ownership. This suggests that in contexts where institutional investors hold a smaller share, firms may place greater emphasis on the policy pressure and social responsibility expectations associated with ESG performance, thereby exhibiting stronger commitment to emission reduction actions. In contrast, in firms dominated by institutional investors, the implementation of ESG policy objectives may be partially compromised due to the investors’ short-term profit orientation. This study provides empirical evidence for firms to fulfill their environmental and social responsibilities and offers actionable insights for investors aiming to promote sustainable development. From a policy perspective, the findings also offer theoretical support for developing differentiated regulatory strategies based on variations in ownership and shareholding structures. Full article

Carbon emission reduction serves as a pivotal strategy for advancing global environmental quality and sustainable socioeconomic development. Private enterprises serve as the primary contributors to industrial carbon emissions. Their low-carbon transition is directly tied to the achievement of China’s Dual Carbon Goals. However, constrained by market failures and the profit-driven nature of capital, these enterprises face significant challenges in both motivation and capacity for carbon emission reduction. As a critical link connecting government and market forces, whether state-owned capital can effectively drive private enterprises to reduce emissions and conserve energy still lacks systematic empirical evidence. Leveraging a panel dataset of private industrial listed companies on China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share markets spanning 2008–2022, we examine the impact of state-owned capital participation on carbon emission reduction and the underlying mechanisms. The empirical results demonstrate that state-owned capital participation can significantly drive carbon emission reduction and propel the low-carbon transformation of private enterprises. Mechanism analysis reveals that state-owned capital participation promotes carbon emission reduction through multiple avenues, including enriching the green resource base, strengthening the value recognition of environmental social responsibility, and improving energy efficiency. Further analysis indicates that the emission reduction effect of state-owned capital participation is more pronounced under conditions of weaker government environmental regulation, lower regional marketization, greater industry competition, and tighter green financing constraints. This study enriches the research on mixed-ownership reform and low-carbon transition of enterprises, deepens the theoretical understanding of the internal mechanism of state-owned capital participation affecting carbon emission reduction, and offers empirical evidence for emerging economies to address the dilemma of emission reduction through property rights integration. Full article

Although digitalization offers new pathways for carbon reduction, its underlying mechanisms have not been fully explored. Unlike previous studies, this research investigates the impact of digitalization on corporate carbon performance through both technological and structural effects while also revealing the boundary conditions under which digitalization contributes to carbon reduction in the context of corporate financing constraints. We conducted an empirical analysis using a fixed-effects model and a partially linear functional-coefficient model based on data from A-share listed companyies in China from 2008 to 2023. The results show that digitalization is significantly and positively associated with corporate carbon performance, confirming its potential for emission reduction. Mechanism tests indicated that digitalization improves corporate carbon performance by enhancing technological absorptive capacity, promoting factor substitution, and optimizing resource allocation. Further analysis revealed that, under financing constraints, the marginal effect of digitalization on corporate carbon performance follows an “inverted U-shaped” curve. Our study enriches the literature on the digital economy and carbon emissions and provides both theoretical and practical insights for promoting the coordinated transformation of enterprises toward digitalization and low-carbon development. Full article

Although carbon emissions trading systems are universally acknowledged as one of the most potent policy instruments for counteracting hazardous climate trends, and digitalization is seen as a favorable technological means to promote corporate green and low-carbon transformation, few studies have investigated the dark side of both. Using data on Chinese listed companies from 2011 to 2020 and adopting a multi-period DID methodology, this research reveals that, in response to the carbon emissions trading system, firms often adopt low-cost, strategic environmental governance behaviors—namely, carbon washing—to reduce compliance costs and maintain their reputation and image. Furthermore, the study reveals that the information advantages of digital transformation create conditions for the opportunistic manipulation of carbon disclosure. Digitalization amplifies the positive influence of the carbon trading system on corporate carbon washing behavior. Mechanism analysis confirms that the carbon emissions trading system increases the production costs of regulated firms, thereby increasing their carbon washing behavior. Economic consequence analysis confirms that firms engage in carbon washing to gain legitimacy and maintain their reputation and image, which may allow them to obtain opportunistic benefits in the capital market. Finally, this study suggests that the government should adopt supplementary policy tools, such as environmental subsidies, enhanced use of digital technologies to strengthen regulatory capacity, and increased media oversight, to mitigate the unintended consequences of the carbon trading system on corporate behavior. Full article