The impact of low-carbon city pilot policy on the total factor productivity of listed enterprises in China

Abstract

In recent years, the low-carbon city pilot policy has been important work in China. It aims to control the city's greenhouse gas emissions, find a "win-win" path of low-carbon and economy and drive the innovation and development of cities through low-carbon goals. In this context, we consider the low-carbon city pilot policy as the starting point. Based on the data of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2005 to 2015 in 285 prefecture-level cities, the OP and LP methods are used to calculate total factor productivity (TFP). In this paper, using PSM-DID and other methods, we empirically test whether and how the low-carbon city pilot policy affects enterprise TFP. The results indicate that the construction of low-carbon cities significantly promotes an increase in the TFP of local enterprises. In addition, improving technological innovation and optimizing the efficiency of resource allocation are two important transmission mechanisms. The above conclusions are robust to a series of tests. Therefore, the implementation of a low-carbon city pilot policy can help achieve the "win-win" goal of emission reduction and high-quality enterprise development. This study provides strong support for further expanding the scope of low-carbon city pilot policy projects and the scientific implementation of climate change policies, and it provides beneficial policy enlightenment for the scientific implementation of urban emission reduction control to win the battle against climate change.