Carbon Emission Trading Pilots Research Articles

Impacts of pilot carbon emission trading policies on urban environmental pollution: Evidence from China

The trading of carbon emissions is a crucial regulatory method to address environmental pollution issues. This study takes China's carbon emission trading pilot policy established in 2013 as a quasi-natural experiment and uses the DID model to empirically test the urban panel data from 2006 to 2019. The results show that the carbon emission trading pilot policy can effectively reduce urban environmental pollution, and this effect is more noticeable in mid-western cities, northern cities, cities with fewer resources, and large-scale cities. In addition, to address the urban environmental pollution problem through this policy, the government is encouraged to raise its environmental protection awareness and put more effort into the innovation of technology. In general, this study uses carbon emission trading policies from China to confirm that market-based incentive environmental regulation tools can effectively reduce environmental pollution in urban areas. These findings can provide more theoretical support and empirical evidence for the government to use mechanisms of the market to effectively solve pollution problems, improve ecological environment quality, and accelerate the realization of green economy.

Effect Analysis of China's Carbon Emission Trading Pilot Policy on Carbon Emission Control

Many countries have achieved a fundamental consensus to decrease carbon dioxide emissions in order to address environmental and climate issues. China, as the foremost energy consumer and carbon emitter globally, has significantly contributed to the exacerbation of greenhouse gas issues. The most effective method for lowering carbon emissions is through the trade of carbon emissions. In 2011, China began the process of implementing pilot projects for pricing carbon emissions as a means of addressing environmental and climate-related issues. This study use the literature review approach to examine the current state of China's carbon emission trading pilot policies on carbon emission management. It also analyzes the technical and economic impacts of these pilot policies in comparison to non-pilot carbon emission trading policies. The objective of this study is to propose recommendations for the implementation of the national carbon emission trading market in 2021.

Study on the Impact of Carbon Emission Trading Pilot on Green Land Use Efficiency in Cities

Under the overarching principle of sustainability, the reliance solely on expanding the landmass to meet the demand for high-quality economic growth is unsustainable. To address the need for harmonious ecological–economic development, this paper examines the influence of carbon emissions trading (CET) policies on the urban land green utilization efficiency (LGUE) from an environmental regulation perspective. Harnessing municipal panel data from 278 cities across China between 2011 and 2020, the study initially employs a super-efficient SBM model to estimate the urban LGUE. Further, a progressive difference-in-differences methodology is utilized to delve into CET’s impact on the LGUE. The main results are as follows. (1) Through the visual analysis of the time–space evolution trend, the LGUE displays pronounced spatial agglomeration, with the LGUE values being higher in the central and western regions compared to the east, and in the south versus the north. Over time, it follows a “U-shaped” change pattern. (2) The CET policy exerts a statistically significant positive influence on the LGUE, although this effect is accompanied by a temporal lag. Following a number of approaches to validate the results, the impact remains significant. (3) Regarding the heterogenous effects, the CET policy appears to have a greater impact on resource-based cities and those in the eastern part of China relative to non-resource-based and central–western cities. This research offers empirical evidence and countermeasure recommendations for the further refinement of the CET policy to enhance the urban LGUE.

Fluctuations and Forecasting of Carbon Price Based on A Hybrid Ensemble Learning GARCH-LSTM-Based Approach: A Case of Five Carbon Trading Markets in China

Carbon trading risk management and policy making require accurate forecasting of carbon trading prices. Based on the sample of China’s carbon emission trading pilot market, this paper firstly uses the Augmented Dickey–Fuller test and Autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity model to test the stationarity and autocorrelation of carbon trading price returns, uses the Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity family model to analyze the persistence, risk and asymmetry of carbon trading price return fluctuations, and then proposes a hybrid prediction model neural network (generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity–long short-term memory network) due to the shortcomings of GARCH models in carbon price fluctuation analysis and prediction. The model is used to predict the carbon trading price. The results show that the carbon trading pilots have different degrees of volatility aggregation characteristics and the volatility persistence is long, among which only the Shanghai and Beijing carbon trading markets have risk premiums. The other pilot returns have no correlation with risks, and the fluctuations of carbon trading prices and returns are asymmetrical. The prediction results of different models show that the root mean square error (RMSE) of Hubei, Shenzhen and Shanghai carbon trading pilots based on the GARCH-LSTM model is significantly lower than that of the single GARCH model, and the RMSE values are reduced by 0.0006, 0.2993 and 0.0151, respectively. The RMSE in the three pilot markets improved by 0.0007, 0.3011 and 0.0157, respectively, compared to the standalone LSTM model. At the same time, compared with the single model, the GARCH-LSTM model significantly increased the R^2 value in Hubei (0.2000), Shenzhen (0.7607), Shanghai (0.0542) and Beijing (0.0595). Therefore, compared with other models, the GARCH-LSTM model can significantly improve the prediction accuracy of carbon price and provide a new idea for scientifically predicting the fluctuation of financial time series such as carbon price.

Will Environmental Regulations lead to China's outward Foreign Direct Investment?: A Quasi Natural Experiment Based on China's Carbon Emission Trading Pilot Policy

Foreign direct investment (OFDI) is an important part of China's "going global" strategy. With the continuous expansion and rapid development of OFDI in China, domestic environmental problems are becoming increasingly severe. Therefore, China has established a pilot policy of Carbon Emission Trading System (ETS) to address environmental issues. This article takes the implementation of ETS pilot policies as a quasi natural experiment, uses the double difference method (DID model) to empirically test whether ETS pilot policies will lead to OFDI, and uses the composite control method for robustness testing to supplement and expand the conclusions of the DID model. In addition, incorporate the "Pollution Shelter Hypothesis" and "Porter Hypothesis" into the same framework to explore the impact mechanism of ETS pilot policies on OFDI. Based on the conclusions drawn, it is recommended to further improve the design of carbon trading systems in pilot areas and establish a national carbon emission trading system to enhance the quality of China's outward foreign direct investment.

Does carbon emission trading policy induce financialization of non-financial firms? Evidence from China

The carbon emission trading scheme influences firms’ operation costs, which may induce resource diversion to financial investments. By using a sample of Chinese A-share non-financial listed firms that are subject to carbon emission trading pilot programs in China, this paper employs a differences-in-differences analysis to test the impact of carbon emission trading on firms’ financial asset allocation. We find that carbon emission trading significantly increases corporate financialization, especially long-term financial assets. The effect is stronger in firms with stronger profit-seeking incentives and weaker governance, suggesting the mechanism of capital profit-seeking and management opportunism under increased operation costs and risk. Further heterogeneity analysis indicates that the positive association between carbon emission trading and corporate financialization is more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises, carbon-intensive firms, and firms in regions with developed financial markets or more volatile carbon markets.

Does the carbon emission trading pilot policy promote green innovation cooperation? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China

Green and low carbon transition is a broad and profound economic and social systematic change. Green innovation is a critical way to promote energy saving and emission reduction. Has China continuously promoted a carbon emission trading policy to significantly promote green innovation cooperation? Taking the implementation of the carbon emission trading pilot policy as a “quasi-natural experiment,” this study answers this question by exploring the impact of the policy on green innovation cooperation. Based on data on 274 cities from 2008 to 2020, the multi-time difference-in-differences model is used to evaluate the impact of the policy on green innovation cooperation. The results reveal that the carbon emission trading pilot policy significantly improved inter- and intra-city green innovation cooperation through the upgrading effect of industrial structure and the coverage effect of digital finance compared with the non-pilot cities at the city level. In addition, there are significant differences in the policy effects among cities with different degrees of openness to the outside world and command-and-control environmental regulation.

The effect of carbon emission trading on enterprises’ sustainable development performance: A quasi-natural experiment based on carbon emission trading pilot in China

The establishment of carbon emission trading (CET) market is an important tool to achieve the “double carbon goal” in China. As an environmental regulatory tool based on market incentives, it remains to be tested whether participating enterprises can achieve sustainable development. This study selects the data of listed enterprises from 2010 to 2020, using the carbon trading pilot policy as a quasi-natural experiment, and employing the time-varying difference in difference (DID) and the improved propensity score matching (PSM)-time varying DID to jointly identify the impact and mechanism of CET pilot policy on the sustainable development performance of enterprises. The results showed that, first, participation in CET market is conducive to improving the sustainable development performance of enterprises, and the empirical results pass the robustness tests. Second, “investors' attention” and “government regulations” play a mediating and moderating role, respectively. Third, the effect of CET on economic, environmental and social aspects of enterprises’ sustainable development performance showed significant heterogeneous results with the difference of the pilot region, the nature of equity, and the size of the enterprise. This study verifies the effectiveness of the pilot CET policy and provides policy recommendations for establishing a national CET market.

Analysis of Influencing Factors on the Value of Carbon Assets in China Under the Background of Double Carbon — Take the Pilot Carbon Emission Trading Program in Guangdong Province as an Example

In recent years, with the rapid development of the global industrial economy, carbon dioxide emissions, the greenhouse effect, and other environmental problems have become increasingly obvious, the development of a low-carbon economy has become the goal pursued by all countries in the world, carbon market trading has also emerged and developed. With the continuous development of the carbon market, carbon assets are playing an increasingly important role for enterprises, and the assessment of carbon assets has greater potential for development prospects. However, at this stage, there are few studies on the value of carbon assets in the field of assessment, and the studies on the influencing factors of the value of carbon assets are more focused on the analysis of the price of carbon emission rights. This paper takes carbon asset trading as the background and carbon emission trading pilot in Guangdong Province as an example and selects five indicators from different fields to establish a linear regression model to analyze the influencing factors of carbon emission rights price.

Did the “double carbon” policy improve the green total factor productivity of iron and steel enterprises? a quasi-natural experiment based on carbon emission trading pilot

Based on the data of listed companies in China’s iron and steel industry from 2007 to 2020, the article investigates the impact mechanism and the path of action of China’s carbon emissions trading pilot on the green total factor productivity of iron and steel enterprises by constructing a multi-period difference-in-difference model difference-in-differences. The study finds that: 1) China’s iron and steel enterprises significantly improve their green total factor productivity driven by the carbon trading pilot, and the findings pass the corresponding robustness tests. 2) the mechanism analysis indicates that the carbon trading pilot promotes the green total factor productivity of iron and steel enterprises by forcing the technological progress of enterprises. 3) The heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effect is more significant for large iron and steel enterprises with high social responsibility rating and high local government competition intensity, but not for small enterprises with low social responsibility rating and low local government competition intensity. 4) the dynamic effect shows that there is a certain lag in the promotion effect of the carbon emission trading pilot on the green total factor productivity of iron and steel enterprises, but its long-term effect is more obvious. This paper puts forward corresponding suggestions for accelerating the construction of a national unified green and low-carbon market system and actively promoting the deepening of the “dual-carbon” goal.

The Carbon Emission Reduction Effect of Carbon Emission Trading Policy in China

The carbon emission trading policy attributes carbon dioxide emission rights to commodities, representing an important exploration to reduce carbon emissions by the market mechanism. Since 2013, China has implemented the carbon emission trading policy. In order to study whether the carbon emission reduction effect of emission trading policy in pilot areas and what is the pathway, this paper uses multi-period difference-in-differences method and the medintion effect method. An empirical analysis of panel data from 283 prefecture-level cities in China between 2006 and 2019.The research findings demonstrate that: (1) The policy about carbon emission trading significantly reduced carbon emissions,which is still valid after a series of robustness tests, and had a synergistic effect. (2) The policy primarily promotes carbon dioxide emission reduction through innovation in green technology and adjustments in industrial structure. (3) In comparison to the eastern and western regions, the policy performs better in central regions. Furthermore, the effectiveness of emission reduction depends on the intensity of environmental regulations, thus, stricter regulations are more conducive to carbon reduction. This paper provides strong evidence to the expansion of carbon emission trading pilots, and guides the operation of carbon emission trading market in China.

Environmental regulation, green innovation and high-quality development of enterprise: Evidence from China

Environmental regulation, as a safe line of defense for the ecological environment, is an important practical exploration to guide green innovation and to promote high-quality development of enterprise. This research examines the impact of environmental regulation on high-quality development of enterprise and the realization path based on the data of Chinese A-share listed enterprises from 2010 to 2020. The fixed-effect model reveals a significant positive correlation between environmental regulation and high-quality development of enterprise. Moreover, the chain intermediation model is used to examine the realization path. Specifically, environmental regulation hinders enterprises' green management innovation and thus has a negative impact on high-quality development of enterprise, which is manifested as a masking effect. Environmental regulation has a positive impact on the high-quality development of enterprise through enhancing green technology innovation or the intermediation chain of "promoting green technology innovation - driving green management innovation". Heterogeneity analysis reveals that environmental regulation has a facilitating effect on the high-quality development of enterprises for non-state-owned enterprises, and enterprises within the carbon emission trading pilot areas. In addition, environmental regulation has the strongest promoting effect on high-quality development of enterprise in the mature stage, followed by the growth stage. The research provides actionable paths for the government to optimize the institutional system of ecological environment construction and accelerate the modernization process of environmental governance.

Is carbon emission trading a green blessing or a curse for firm performance in China? A quasi-experiment design and exploring the spatial spillover effect.

This paper conducts quasi-experiment design with Chinese listed companies microdata to investigate the effect and mechanism of corporate participation in carbon emission trading market on firm financial performance by using the staggered difference-in-differences method. We show that: a) corporate participation in carbon emission trading market can enhance firm financial performance; b) an increase in green innovation ability and a decrease in strategic choice variance both partially mediate the relationship between carbon emission trading and firm performance; c) executive background heterogeneity and external environmental uncertainty moderate the relationship between carbon emission trading and firm performance in different directions; d) our further study indicates that carbon emission trading pilot policy has a spatial spillover effect on firm financial performance in the neighboring provinces. Therefore, we recommend that the government and enterprises make an effort to further stimulate the vitality of corporate participation in carbon emission trading market.

An Empirical Study on Emissions Trading Influence for the Enterprise Environmental Responsibility

Abstract The primary objective of this paper is to address the inherent biases in the calculation of carbon emissions trading (CET) and foster the development of green innovation. By employing panel data from carbon emission trading pilots, the spatial Durbin model (SDID) is applied to assess the impact of CET on corporate environmental responsibility. By integrating CET and corporate environmental responsibility within a unified framework, this paper presents a novel analysis of the influence of environmental regulations on corporate environmental responsibility at the micro-level. Additionally, this study examines the spatial spillover effect of CET, thereby rectifying estimation biases. The model validation results indicate statistical significance below the 1 % level. The findings of this research reveal that it analyses the specific channels through which CET influences corporate environmental responsibility, providing insights that address the limitations of previous studies in mechanism analysis.

Environmental Regulation and Corporate Environmental Performance: Evidence from Chinese Carbon Emission Trading Pilot

Using archival data of the Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2019, this article empirically examines the effectiveness of the Chinese carbon emission trading pilot, from the perspective of market-ranked corporate environmental performance. The main findings demonstrate that compared with companies not selected in the pilot, regulated enterprises tend to create a better environmental performance after the implementation of the pilot. Second, regarding the two possible influential channels, the lowering production level channel is empirically supported, while the increasing green investment channel lacks salient explanatory power. Finally, greater environmental pressures and better internal control quality present synergistic effects in amplifying the positive connection between the pilot and corporate environmental performance. Our conclusions remain valid under various robustness test methods. Potential related directions for future research are also identified and suggested in this article. Overall, using the Chinese carbon emission trading pilot as a research setting, our study provides additional evidence on whether and how environmental regulations affect corporate environmental performance ranked by capital market participants.

Can carbon emission trading pilot facilitate green development performance? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China

Can carbon emission trading pilot facilitate green development performance? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China

Research on the Impact of Carbon Trading Policy on the Structural Upgrading of Marine Industry

To promote greenhouse gas emission reduction, China has proposed a dual carbon target to achieve carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. Since 2013, China has opened an increasing number of carbon emission trading pilot projects, and at this stage, China’s carbon emission trading policy has been gradually promoted to the whole country; therefore, how can marine economy be affected under the promotion of carbon trading policy? This paper uses the difference in differences method to study the data of marine industry structure of Chinese coastal provinces from 2010 to 2018. The study finds that carbon trading policies promote the upgrading of the marine industry structure, and further verifies that the impact of carbon trading policies on the upgrading of the marine industry structure is spatially heterogeneous. In other words, the carbon trading policy also has a significant promoting effect on the provinces within 160 km of the pilot provinces, but the effect will be weaker than that of the pilot provinces; at 160–320 km from the pilot provinces, the carbon trading policy has no significant promoting effect on the provinces within this range; at 320–960 km from the pilot provinces, the effect of the carbon trading policy on the provinces within this range becomes negative and significant, showing a suppressive effect. The experimental findings of this paper will provide a reference for China to achieve its carbon neutrality goal and realize a strong ocean state.

Have carbon emission trading pilot policy improved urban innovation capacity? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China.

The carbon emission trading pilot policy is an important initiative to achieve synergistic economic-environmental development. Based on the data of 268 cities in China from 2006 to 2020, this paper analyzes the impact of carbon emission trading pilot policy on urban innovation capacity by using a time-varying difference-in-difference model. The study shows that, first, the implementation of the CETP improves the innovation capacity of cities, and the robustness test confirms the above findings. Second, the effect of the policy on enhancing urban innovation capacity is heterogeneous between the type of innovation and city type: the promotion of innovation capacity is stronger for utility model patents and non-capital cities. Third, there is a positive spillover effect of the implementation of the CETP on the promotion effect of the urban innovation capacity, which can lead to the improvement of the innovation capacity of neighboring cities. This paper has some reference value for building a unified carbon emission trading market and promoting low-carbon economic development within China.

Can carbon emission trading pilot policy drive industrial structure low-carbon restructuring: new evidence from China.

Industrial structure low-carbon restructuring is an essential channel to accelerate China's economic growth and fulfilling carbon emission reduction goals. Whether carbon emission trading pilot policy, as an influential carbon reduction instrument, fosters industrial structure low-carbon restructuring is of major significance to green economic development. This paper empirically investigates the shock of the carbon emission trading pilot policy on industrial structure low-carbon restructuring using the differences-in-differences (DID) and synthetic control method (SCM). Statistics reveal that sectors with low carbon productivity, such as electricity, steam, and hot water production and supply, ferrous metal smelting and pressing, etc., and sectors with high carbon productivity, such as electrical equipment and machinery, electronics and telecommunication equipment, etc. The industrial structure did not develop a stable trend of change before the 12th Five-Year Plan, but a stable trend of low-carbon restructuring emerged after such a period. Carbon emission trading pilot policy significantly facilitates industrial structural low-carbon restructuring. Carbon emission trading pilot policy inhibits energy-intensive industries in the industrial sector significantly, which promotes industrial structure low-carbon restructuring. Therefore, policymakers need to develop a nationwide carbon emission trading market that includes more industries to guide production factors to industrial sectors with high carbon productivity for industrial restructuring and dual carbon goals.

Heterogeneity and spillover effects of carbon emission trading on green innovation.

The massive emission of greenhouse gases poses a serious threat to the ecological environment. In this context, the relevant effects of the carbon emission trading (CET) market, which promotes greenhouse gas emission reduction by market means, have been widely investigated. Taking the China's CET pilot as a research target, the heterogeneity and spillover effects of CET on green innovation are explored by using the sample data of 279 prefecture-level cities in China from 2008 to 2019. The results are as follows. First, on the whole, CET significantly promotes strategic green innovation, but it has no significant effect on substantive green innovation. Second, the green innovation effect of CET varies with the level of green innovation, and the heterogeneous effects of green innovation are also reflected in different degrees of marketization, fiscal decentralization and government environmental concern. Third, CET has a positive spillover effect on green innovation, and the spillover effect is more significant than the direct effect, accounting for 74.8% of the total effect. Finally, some corresponding policy suggestions are put forward according to the above research conclusions.