Will Green Innovation Bring about the Financial Spillover Effect? Evidence from China’s High-Carbon Listed Companies

Abstract

Is there a spillover effect from enterprises’ green innovation activities that promotes the coordinated development of the economy and the environment? Very few studies examine the impact of green innovation on corporate performance. Based on the data from Chinese listed firms in high-carbon industries from 2000 to 2021, this paper finds that green innovation has a significant promotion effect on enterprise performance, and the degree of regional intellectual property protection and enterprises’ financial resource base positively regulate the relationship between green innovation and enterprise performance. Further heterogeneity analysis shows that high-quality green innovation can better promote improvements in enterprise performance. In nonstate-owned enterprises, the spillover effect of such high-quality green innovation is more significant than that in state-owned enterprises. Meanwhile, the heterogeneity of the corporate governance level also affects the relationship between green innovation and enterprise performance. Green innovation has played a more significant role in promoting company performance in companies with high equity ratios. Finally, this paper proposes that companies should completely utilize their resource advantages to carry out high-quality green innovation practices to realize the coordinated development of the economy and the environment. This study provides empirical evidence and policy implications for accelerating the high-quality, sustainable development of enterprises.