| The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly pointed out that it is necessary to accelerate the green transformation of the development mode,develop green and low-carbon industries,improve the market-oriented allocation system of resources and environmental elements,and accelerate application of advanced energy-saving and carbon-reducing technologies.As the microcosmic subject of green innovation and green economic development,listed companies’ green innovation level is a hot spot of concern in the theoretical and practical circles.Different from traditional innovation,the primary purpose of green innovation is to reduce the environmental damage caused by economic development.Green innovation focuses on improving resource utilization efficiency,realizing efficient use of traditional energy,and recycling of waste resources and renewable resources.While protecting the existing environmental quality,seek the economic value conversion of green technology,and curb the negative impact of industrial development on the environment from the source.Existing studies have discussed and explored the definition and performance evaluation system of green innovation from multiple disciplines.In recent years,with the green practice of government organizations,the related topics of the influencing factors and economic consequences of green innovation have also attracted the attention of a large number of scholars.However,in the existing empirical research,there are few literatures that pay attention to the impact of corporate micro-characteristics on green innovation from the perspectives of property rights,institutional investor shareholding ratios,and media supervision.They fail to analyze the difference in green innovation among enterprises in different meso-market structures and macro-market environments.In terms of economic consequences,corporate green innovation has played a positive role in capital cost,corporate environmental performance,production efficiency,and financial performance,but the existing literature pays little attention to the economic impact of green innovation in the field of corporate finance and environmental governance.On the basis of summarizing the relevant institutional background and research literature of listed companies’ green innovation,this paper explores the influencing factors of listed companies’ green innovation and its economic consequences in the fields of corporate finance and environmental governance.Specifically,this paper mainly answers the following questions: First,at the micro level,how does the property rights,shareholding ratio of institutional investors and media supervision affect the level of green innovation;at the meso level,how do the market concentration and administrative barriers affect the improvement of green innovation;how do the regional financial development level and legal environment at the macro level affect the corporate green innovation? Second,will the green innovation of listed companies have an impact on the cost of equity capital and debt capital of the company,and what is the mechanism of its impact? Third,how does the green innovation of listed companies affect the company’s environmental governance costs and ESG ratings? What are the impact mechanisms? Fourth,what is the impact of listed companies’ green innovation on corporate production efficiency and financial performance,and through which intermediary mechanisms does green innovation affect corporate financial performance? In order to explore the above questions,this paper selects the companies listed in China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares from 2007 to 2018 as the research sample for empirical testing.The findings are as follows:First,based on the analysis of influencing factors from a micro perspective,it is found that listed companies have different levels of green innovation under different property rights.Compared with non-state-owned enterprises,state-owned enterprises have a higher degree of green innovation;the higher the institutional investor shareholding ratio,the higher the level of enterprise green innovation;media attention plays a role of exposure and supervision,and improves the level of enterprise green innovation.Based on the analysis of influencing factors from the meso-level,it is found that the higher the degree of market concentration,the higher the degree of green innovation of listed companies.At the same time,in industries with higher administrative entry barriers,enterprises have a higher degree of green innovation.The analysis of influencing factors from a macro perspective shows that the higher the level of regional financial development,the higher the degree of green innovation of the enterprises.The regional law environment also plays a role in protecting the property rights of green patents of enterprises,which helps to stimulate the power of green innovation of listed companies and improve the level of green innovation.Second,the analysis of economic consequences in terms of corporate capital costs found that the higher the degree of green innovation of listed companies,the lower the cost of equity capital of the company.In a further test of the impact mechanism,this paper finds that non-state-owned enterprises pay more attention to the economic value of green innovation,the possibility of green innovation bringing long-term benefits is higher,and the cost of equity capital is significantly lower;Among listed companies with higher analyst coverage,the reduction effect of green innovation activities on corporate equity capital costs is more significant;in regions with greater carbon emission pressure,the higher the degree of green innovation,the lower the equity capital cost of listed companies.The extended analysis found that there is a significant negative correlation between the degree of green innovation of listed companies and the cost of corporate debt capital.The triple difference test results based on the green credit guidance policy show that the negative correlation between the degree of green innovation and the cost of corporate debt capital is more significant after the country implements the green credit guidance policy,in industries which encouraged by green credit.Third,the analysis of economic consequences in terms of corporate environmental performance found that green innovation can improve corporate environmental performance,and the research found that the higher the degree of green innovation,the lower the environmental governance expense.The implementation of the new "Environmental Protection Law" has promoted the improvement of the environmental performance through green innovation,and reduced the cost of environmental governance.Further,based on the analysis of the influencing factors of the internal and external environment of the enterprise,it is found that the inhibitory effect of green innovation activities of state-owned enterprises on the environmental governance expense ratio is more significant;institutional investor supervision significantly improves the inhibitory effect of green innovation on environmental protection governance costs;Investment in regional environmental protection governance helps to strengthen the negative correlation between green innovation of listed companies and corporate environmental governance expense ratio.Analysis from the perspective of the ESG ratings found that the higher the degree of green innovation,the higher the corporate ESG rating.Fourth,the degree of green innovation helps to improve the production efficiency and financial performance of enterprises.Further examination of the intermediary mechanism found that the green innovation of listed companies ultimately improved the financial performance of the company by increasing the total factor productivity,reducing the equity capital cost and environmental governance cost.The enterprise’s total factor productivity and environmental governance cost rate play an incomplete mediation effect,and the equity capital cost plays a complete mediation effect between the degree of green innovation and corporate financial performance.The theoretical significance of this study lies in:First of all,this paper studies the influence factors from the micro-perspectives such as the property rights of listed companies,institutional investor shareholding and media supervision,the meso-perspectives such as market structure and administrative barriers,and the macro-perspectives of regional financial and legal environment.The study provides a theoretical reference for follow-up research.Secondly,this study expands the research on the economic consequences of green innovation in the field of financing.This paper analyzes the positive contribution of green innovation to reducing the cost of capital,which will help to enrich the relevant theoretical literature on reducing the cost of capital.Thirdly,this study examines the important economic consequences of environmental regulatory tools such as the new Environmental Protection Law and the national green financial policy on green innovation,which will help enrich the research of the theoretical mechanism by which national environmental regulatory tools affect corporate micro-behavior,extending the theoretical chain of research on the economic consequences of environmental regulation tools.Then,the research in this paper helps to provide a theoretical review of the economic sense for the existing research on the environmental performance of listed companies,so that the original intention of green innovation,that is,the double improvement of environmental performance and economic value,is more intuitive and realistic.It enrichs the research theories in areas such as green innovation and environmental performance.Finally,the research on the economic consequences of green innovation in the fields of corporate production efficiency and corporate financial performance will help provide theoretical supplements and empirical support for the study of the intermediary path for improving corporate financial performance.The practical value of this study is reflected in:First of all,the study of this paper provides a theoretical understanding of how to play the driving role of enterprises,markets and policy environments on the green innovation,and provides a detailed path guidance for further promoting the development of green innovation in enterprises,which has important practical value.Secondly,this paper finds a negative correlation between green innovation and capital cost,which can further stimulate the enthusiasm of listed companies for green investment and promote the green upgrading of corporate development concepts.Thirdly,this study examines the beneficial effects of green innovation from the perspective of environmental protection expenses and environmental ratings,which can promote enterprises to re-examine the economic value of green innovation activities and the positive contribution in the field of environmental ratings,and promote enterprises to pay more attention to green innovation.In the process of actual research and development of green innovation projects,the mutual transformation between environmental performance and financial performance is strengthened.Then,the research findings of this paper provide empirical evidence for the economic value of green innovation,and provide a green development path for improving the production efficiency and financial performance of enterprises,thereby prompting enterprises to increase green innovation research,and realize green innovation under the concept of high-quality development.Finally,this paper provides micro-evidence for the national environmental protection department and other relevant government agencies to implement the new "Environmental Protection Law" and other environmental regulation policies.It helps to refine the auxiliary supporting measures related to environmental regulation tools,strengthen the synergy between green policies such as green credit finance,carbon emission reduction and carbon trading,and enhance the positive impact of the above policies on improving the degree of green technology innovation of enterprises.It is conducive to promoting the benign interaction between enterprises and the government,and jointly improving the output level of green technology innovation enterprises. |
PDF Full Text Request