Can Public Participation In Environmental Governance Really Drive Companies To Improve Environmental Performance?

In recent years,green development and sustainable development have become the trend of the times.The 2019 government work report emphasizes "strengthening pollution prevention and ecological construction and vigorously promoting green development",and pointed out that "enterprises as the main body of pollution prevention and control must perform their prevention and control responsibilities according to law." Many enterprises only pay attention to profits and ignore environmental issues in the process of production and management.This not only affects the sustainable development of enterprises,but also pays a huge environmental and resource price.Therefore,how to make enterprises implement the concept of green development,fulfill environmental responsibilities,and improve environmental performance has become the focus of attention from all walks of life.Scholars have extensively discussed the influencing factors of corporate environmental performance,but they have not paid enough attention to public participation.With the increasing public awareness of environmental protection,the state has also formulated a series of legal policies to regulate public participation in environmental governance,and public participation has gradually become an indispensable force in environmental governance.Therefore,it is of great significance to study whether public participation in environmental governance can truly promote enterprises to improve environmental performance.In this context,this paper raises two questions:(1)Whether there is a difference in the impact of public participation in environmental governance on corporate environmental information disclosure and actual environmental performance;(2)What are the channels by which public participation in environmental governance affects corporate environmental performance? Through the answers to the above questions,we explore whether public participation in environmental governance can truly promote the "integration of words and deeds" of enterprises and effectively improve environmental performance.In order to explore the micro-effects of public participation in environmental governance,theoretically enrich the research on the effects of public participation in environmental governance and the research on the influencing factors of corporate environmental performance,and provide practical basis for public participation in improving corporate environmental performance.In response to the above issues,this article based on stakeholder theory and legitimacy theory,expounded how public participation affects corporate environmental performance,and provides theoretical basis for case studies.In the case analysis part,this article takes Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet Co.,Ltd.as the case study object,selects two environmental events and conducts in-depth comparative research,and explores through the company’s environmental information disclosure,environmental protection investment and green innovation analysis.The impact of public participation on the environmental performance of the company,to test whether public participation can make the company “consistent with words and deeds”,analyze the reasons for the differences,and explore whether the public participation in environmental governance can really promote the improvement of environmental performance of enterprises,in order to enhance the effectiveness of public participation in environmental governance Suggest feasibilityResearch shows that public direct participation,participation in environmental governance through media channels,and regulatory pressures imposed on companies and regulatory pressures through government channels can drive companies to improve environmental performance.However,compared with corporate environmental information disclosure,public participation in environmental governance The impact on environmental protection investment and green innovation of enterprises is limited,and there are "different words and deeds" in enterprises.To truly promote the improvement of environmental performance of enterprises,it is necessary to give full play to the joint governance of the public,the media,and the government.It is also necessary to improve the legal policies and reasonable environmental regulations that protect the rights and interests of public participation,so as to improve the effect of public participation in environmental governance.