Strategizing for Sustainability: Examining the Dynamic Interplay of the Circular Economy, Green Technology Innovation, and Green Performance

Digital finance provides a premises guarantee for green technology innovation, and effective environmental regulation helps to achieve green and sustainable development. This article selects Chinese urban panel data from 2011 to 2019 to explore the impact mechanism of the influence of digital finance and environmental regulation on the innovation capacity of green science and technology. It is found that extensive financing channels and the strong information-matching ability of digital finance have a significant promoting effect on local green science and technology innovation. Moreover, government environmental regulation not only facilitates the development of green technology innovation locally and in nearby regions, but also strengthens the utility of digital finance in driving green science and technology innovation. Further research found that the influence of digital finance and environmental regulation on the ability of green science and technology innovation has regional heterogeneity, and only digital finance in Central China can promote green science and technology innovation in both local and adjacent areas. Therefore, the government should continue to promote the development of digital finance, optimize environmental regulations by increasing environmental protection subsidies and creating a green innovation environment, and further stimulate willingness to innovate green technologies. At the same time, it is also important to note the coordinated development and governance with neighboring regional governments.

ABSTRACTThis research delves into firms' green innovation response to climate policy uncertainty (CPU). We distinguish green management innovation from green technological innovation and investigate the moderating effect of belonging to a high‐energy‐consuming industry and investors' climate attention. Based on Chinese A‐share listed firms in 2008–2022, we reveal a positive influence of CPU on green management innovation but a more limited effect on green technological innovation. However, firms' green technological innovation response is found to be more positive in the high‐energy‐consuming industry, and increased climate attention by investors strengthens CPU's facilitating effect on both green management and green technological innovation. In terms of longer‐term outcomes, we reveal that firms' participation in green technological innovation prompted by CPU significantly bolsters firms' competitive advantage. Our research offers novel insights into the inconsistent debate relationship between CPU and green innovation and influencing contextual factors.

In the era of green economic development, green finance serves as a crucial catalyst for green technological innovation, and both may significantly drive the upgrading of industrial structures. This study combines green finance, green technological innovation, and industrial structure into a research framework, analyzing data from 29 Chinese provinces (2003–2020) to empirically assess their impacts on China’s industrial structure using a two-way fixed-effects model. The results show the following: first, green finance and green technological innovation can significantly promote the upgrading of China’s industrial structure directly and synergistically, a finding corroborated by various robustness tests. Secondly, heterogeneity analysis reveals that there is a “path-dependency effect” in the development of green finance and technology innovation: in areas with higher population density, more developed technological markets, and lower fiscal pressure, the synergistic promotion of the upgrading of industrial structure is stronger. Thirdly, further research indicates that green finance and technology innovation impact the upgrading of industrial structure variably under command-and-control, market-incentive, and voluntary environmental-regulation tools. The most effective policy is the voluntary regulation tool, which involves higher levels of public participation. This study offers valuable insights for fostering green technology innovation, refining environmental policies, and enhancing the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure.

A step toward the attainment of carbon neutrality and SDG-13: Role of financial depth and green technology innovation

Threshold effect of green credit on firms’ green technology innovation: Is environmental information disclosure important?

This study aims to analyze the conditions of green organizational management and technological-innovation. The analysis departs from assuming that green organizational management innovation and technological innovation has a direct influence on sustainable green organizational performance under the assumption that sustainability mediates the relationship between green management and green technological innovation and green organizational performance. The method used is the meta-analytical-reflective based on the conceptual, theoretical and empirical review of the literature. It is concluded that the green organizational management and technological innovation has a direct effect on sustainable organizational performance.

This study aims to analyze the conditions of green organizational management and technological-innovation. The analysis departs from assuming that green organizational management innovation and technological innovation has a direct influence on sustainable green organizational performance under the assumption that sustainability mediates the relationship between green management and green technological innovation and green organizational performance. The method used is the meta-analytical-reflective based on the conceptual, theoretical and empirical review of the literature. It is concluded that the green organizational management and technological innovation has a direct effect on sustainable organizational performance.

This study aims to analyze the conditions of green organizational management and technological-innovation. The analysis departs from assuming that green organizational management innovation and technological innovation has a direct influence on sustainable green organizational performance under the assumption that sustainability mediates the relationship between green management and green technological innovation and green organizational performance. The method used is the meta-analytical-reflective based on the conceptual, theoretical and empirical review of the literature. It is concluded that green organizational management and technological innovation have a direct effect on sustainable organizational performance.

Based on the panel data of 283 cities in China from 2009 to 2018, this paper analyzes the effect of urban green scientific and technological innovation enhancement on hazardous air pollutants using the GS2SLS method, which simultaneously controls for model endogeneity and spatial spillover effects and reveals the transmission mechanism of urban green scientific and technological innovation level. It was found that (1) There is a significant spatial spillover effect of hazardous air pollutants between regions, both in China as a whole and in the eastern, central, and western parts of the country, and the spatial spillover effect of hazardous air pollutants is significantly greater in the eastern and central parts of China than in the western parts. (2) Green technological innovation has a significant inhibitory effect on hazardous air pollutants in cities in eastern and central China. An extended study found that the improvement in green technology levels in innovative cities has a better effect on controlling hazardous air pollutants than in non-innovative cities. (3) The energy- saving and green economy effects have a mediating influence on the effect of green technological innovation on hazardous air pollutants in cities, and the simultaneous occurrence of these two effects in green technological innovation serves to enhance the transmission of hazardous air pollutants in order to facilitate the long-term management of haze.

Does the coupling of digital and green technology innovation matter for carbon emissions?

In the carbon neutrality strategy, understanding the effects of green finance on green technology innovation is conductive to promoting the green transformation of the economy. Based on the micro-level and provincial panel data of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2019, this study explored the impact of green financial development on the enterprises’ green technology innovation. Both mediating effect and moderating effect models were employed to determine the impact of green finance on green technological innovation. It was found that green finance significantly improved the enterprises’ green technology innovation, despite sufficient incentives for “quantity” and relatively insufficient motivation for “quality”. The mechanistic tests demonstrated that the green finance could encourage enterprises to improve green technology innovation by alleviating corporate financing constraints. The green innovation effect of green finance was gradually increased when the regional intellectual property protection was improved. The heterogeneity test indicated that the incentive effect of green financial development on green technology innovation was more evident in state-owned enterprises, enterprises with good internal control quality, and enterprises in the growth period. If only enterprises in the recession stage received green financial support, a “green innovation bubble” might occur. The research conclusions enrich the theories on the driving factors of enterprise green innovation and provide empirical evidence for enhancing the competitiveness of enterprise green innovation and achieving carbon neutrality.

Digitization has been the new engine for high-quality economic development. This paper explores how digitization affects enterprises’ green technology innovation. The study finds that digitization has a positive effect on enterprises’ green technology innovation. The mediating effect suggests that digitization can promote enterprises’ green technology innovation by optimizing the structure of human capital, increasing the attention of media and easing the financing constraints. The heterogeneity test finds that the larger the enterprise scale, the higher quality of internal control, and the stronger the promotion of digitalization to green technology innovation; The greater degree of environmental regulation of enterprises and the higher degree of industry competition, the more prominent the impact of digitization on its green technology innovation. This paper is a useful supplement to the traditional digital analysis framework, helping enterprises to better drive green technology innovation through digital transformation.

To optimize the allocation efficiency of green technology innovation resources, this study adopts the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method to study the multifactor and multi-configuration influencing mechanism of green technology innovation power of resource-based listed enterprises. The results show that: (1)environmental awareness of enterprises is an important part of green technology innovation power, and R&D strength is an important foundation for forming green technology innovation power. The key to promoting green technology innovation of enterprises is to enhance environmental awareness and R&D strength of enterprises; (2)A higher degree of internationalization and strong market power can compensate for the lack of internal driving force caused by insufficient environmental awareness of enterprises, and promote enterprises to carry out green technology innovation spontaneously. (3)Government innovation subsidies and environmental regulations can compensate for the lack of external driving force caused by market failure and promote enterprise green technology innovation. The research results also can provide theoretical support for green communication technology and reduce the burden of resources and the environment.

How does heterogeneous green technology innovation affect air quality and economic development in Chinese cities? Spatial and nonlinear perspective analysis

Green energy as a new determinant of green growth in China: The role of green technological innovation