Does the low-carbon transition promote the ESG disclosure of renewable energy enterprises?

Abstract

I use the low-carbon city pilot policy as a natural experiment to study how the low-carbon transition affects the ESG disclosure of renewable energy enterprises. The purpose of this research is to present new evidence for the effect of the low-carbon transition on renewable energy enterprises. I find that the low-carbon city pilot policy promotes the ESG disclosure of renewable energy enterprises. The channel test results show that the low-carbon city pilot policy promotes the ESG disclosure of renewable energy enterprises by improving their ESG performance, and ESG performance plays a mediator role. Further research reveals that the low-carbon city pilot policy has a greater positive impact on the ESG disclosure of renewable energy enterprises with higher levels of institutional investor shareholding ratio and internal control quality.