The Impact of Carbon Emission Trading Policies on Enterprises’ Green Technology Innovation—Evidence from Listed Companies in China

Abstract

At present, the Chinese government has successively launched various policies to control the emission standards of greenhouse gases. As one of the most important standards, carbon emission trading policies were implemented in some provinces and regions in China in 2013, aiming to restrict the carbon emissions of enterprises. However, the government’s control of corporate carbon emissions restricts their rapid economic growth to some extent. Enterprises’ green technology innovation can be an effective means to ensure the implementation of low-carbon policies and promote sustainable economic growth simultaneously. The Porter hypothesis holds that reasonable environmental regulations can stimulate enterprises’ green technology innovation. Based on the Porter hypothesis, this paper examines the impact of China’s carbon emission trading policies on local enterprises’ green technology innovation from a micro perspective, taking China’s listed companies from 2007 to 2020 as samples and adopting the differential method. The differences in the impact of carbon emission trading policies on green technology innovation in the context of different corporate environmental strategies are also studied. Our study found that China’s carbon emissions trading policies can effectively stimulate green technology innovation, as carbon emissions trading policies under different environmental strategies have a positive influence on the technical innovation of enterprises and, compared with reactive environmental strategies, promote a greater role for enterprises’ proactive environmental strategies. The conclusions of this study not only provide relevant suggestions for the Chinese government to enact environmental regulation policies but also provide references for enterprises to choose appropriate environmental strategies and achieve sustainable development under the constraints of environmental regulation.