| The report of the 19 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly pointed out that the legal system and policy direction of green production and consumption should be accelerated,and the economic system of green,low-carbon and circular development should be built.In September 2020,Xi Jinping pledged before the United Nations General Assembly that China would strive to achieve carbon peak by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2060.However,the full realization of "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality" faces a serious shortage of funds.According to statistics,the annual investment requirement for China’s green industry from 2016 to 2020 is about 3 trillion yuan.According to statistics,the annual investment requirement of China’s green industry is about RMB 3 trillion to RMB 4 trillion.The government’s financial resources can only meet 15% of the green investment needs,and the remaining 85% must be raised from social capital.Given the dual pressures of environmental protection and green capital demand,meeting green capital demand through market-based means has become a hot topic of concern across all walks of life.On August 31,2016,seven ministries and commissions,including the People’s Bank of China,the Ministry of Finance,the National Development and Reform Commission,the Ministry of Environmental Protection,the China Banking Regulatory Commission,the China Securities Regulatory Commission,and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Building a Green Financial System." Innovative financial institutional arrangements that guide and motivate more social capital to invest in green industries and promote the unified development of economic,environmental and social benefits are the internal drivers for realizing the dual needs of economic development and environmental protection.In this context,green bonds have received increasing attention and popularity as an important part of the green financial system.The international market for green bonds developed earlier.The European Investment Bank opened the green bond market in 2007 with the issuance of the Climate Awareness Bond,which is mainly used for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.Since then,the World Bank has issued green bonds,green bonds in the truest sense of the word,in support of climate projects in 2008.According to statistics from the Climate Bonds Initiative,global issuance of green bonds labelled "green bonds" increased from $810 billion in 2016 to more than $2.7 trillion in 2020,with total issuance exceeding $6.6trillion in a few years.Although China’s green bond market has emerged relatively late,the successive issuance of green bond policies and guidelines by various regulators and exchanges has played an important role in promoting and institutionally safeguarding the vigorous development of the green bond market.2016 is the first year that the Chinese green bond market was launched.The issuance volume has increased from almost zero to RMB 238 billion,accounting for 39% of the global issuance volume.In just five years,China’s green bond market has taken the lead in the global green bond market.In 2020,the scale of green bond issuance reached RMB 289.5 billion.The rapid development of China’s green bond market not only opens up new opportunities for investors to participate in green investment,but more importantly,it also opens up new financing channels for the green transformation of micro enterprises.Unlike the international green bond market,the Chinese green bond market is driven by public sector policies and rules.As green bonds are the second largest source of green project financing after green loans,they have huge capital demand and development potential in the Chinese capital market,but the existing literature lacks the focus on emerging capital markets to explore the relevant policy implications of green bonds.Based on this,this dissertation focuses on China’s green bond market and answers the following questions:(1)Does green bonds have financing cost advantages in the issuance phase?If so,what are the influencing factors?(2)As a financing instrument,green bonds are also a "green" signal for enterprises to take environmental responsibility.Can they alleviate corporate financing constraints and optimize the debt maturity structure,thereby improving investment efficiency?(3)After issuing green bonds,will the company invest further funds in specific green projects,so as to promote the company’s green technology innovation and achieve a longterm energy saving and emission reduction mechanism? To answer the above questions,this dissertation draws on green finance theory,stakeholder theory,ESG concept and signaling theory,and focuses on China’s top-down model for green bond market development,focusing on the dual characteristics of green bonds.The green bonds issued in China in 2020 are the research object,and the impact of the introduction of the green bond market is studied at the micro level.First,the financing cost advantage of green bonds is examined from the perspective of financing cost.By examining the financing cost advantages and influencing factors of green bonds compared to ordinary bonds,the dissertation found that the credit spread of green bonds is significantly lower than that of ordinary bonds,by 19 percentage points.This implies that corporate issuance of green bonds has financing cost advantages,and that third-party green certification,the proportion of funds raised that are used for green projects,and the quality of green information disclosure are key factors that influence green bonds to achieve lower credit spreads.The results of the heterogeneity test show that the financing cost advantage of firms issuing green bonds is more significant in the samples of SOEs,green bond preference policies,and regions with higher levels of financial development.It is found that the financing cost advantage of green bonds is higher in the continuous improvement stage of green bonds compared with the initial development stage,indicating that the green bond market mechanism plays a key role in the financing cost advantage of green bonds.Finally,the extension test,which uses the yield to maturity and the yield of risk-free government bonds in the secondary market as an index to measure the credit spread,shows that green bonds have lower credit spreads not only in the issuance stage but also in the secondary market.There are also financing cost advantages in the market.Second,investigate the impact of green bond issuance on corporate investment efficiency.The dissertation found that green bond issuance can improve corporate investment efficiency,and that green bond financing plays a more significant role in promoting investment efficiency in non-state-owned enterprises and polluting enterprises,which is even more interesting.However,unlike green credit policy,green bond issuance has a more significant inhibiting effect on the underinvestment of polluting enterprises,suggesting that green bonds provide long-term funds for the green technological transformation projects of polluting enterprises,thus reducing underinvestment.The mechanism of green bond issuance on investment efficiency is analyzed from the aspects of financing constraints and debt maturity structure.It is found that green bond issuance mainly provides long-term funds for enterprises by alleviating financing constraints and optimizing debt maturity structure,preventing enterprises from "financing in the short term and investing in the long term",which improves the efficiency of enterprise investment.Further comparison and analysis of the implementation effect of green credit policies found that green bond financing,unlike green credit policies,reduces enterprises’ liquidity liabilities and increases long-term liabilities,indicating that enterprises raise long-term debt capital for green enterprise projects through green bond issuance.Means to ensure the smooth implementation of green projects.Finally,the impact of green bond financing on corporate green innovation and its mechanism is examined.The dissertation found that green bond financing increased companies’ enthusiasm for green innovation.Compared with companies that had not obtained third-party green certification and had a lower rating,companies that had obtained third-party green certification and had a higher rating had a higher level of green innovation,suggesting that green certification and rating level are the main factors influencing the promotion of green innovation through green bonds.The mechanism test found that investment efficiency,including green investment efficiency,is an important channel for green bond financing to improve enterprises’ green technology innovation.And in the samples with stricter environmental regulation and higher financial development level,green bonds play a more significant role in promoting green innovation.This suggests that binding environmental regulations and regional financial development level provide an institutional basis for the micro effects of green bonds and have some amplification effect.Furthermore,examine the spillover effect of green bonds from the perspective of government subsidies and firm value,and find that green bonds not only improve the level of green innovation of firms,but also contribute to firms receiving more environmental government subsidies.The contributions of this dissertation are mainly reflected in the following aspects:(1)It provides micro evidence of the economic and environmental impacts of China’s green bond market development.This dissertation focuses on China’s green bond market for the first time,and examines the impact of green bonds on corporate investment and financing behavior,as well as green innovation,using the three dimensions of financing cost,investment efficiency,and green innovation.In doing so,it provides empirical evidence on the implementation effect of China’s green bond market introduction.(2)The conclusions of this dissertation provide green bond investors with new insights to better understand the dual characteristics of green bonds.As a new type of green financial instrument,green bonds have both bond and green characteristics and provide important financial support for corporate green transformation.Although green bonds have developed rapidly in the short term,there are few studies and conflicting views on the dual nature of green bonds.As a debt financing method and green signal,green bonds not only help reduce enterprises’ financing costs,reduce enterprises’ financing constraints,optimize debt maturity structure and improve enterprises’ investment efficiency,but also enhance enterprises’ green innovation activities.The bond characteristics of green bonds reduce financing costs,improve investment efficiency and maximize economic benefits.(3)This dissertation provides an important reference value for the further improvement of the institutional system of the green bond market.This dissertation finds that third-party green certification is an important factor affecting the cost advantage of green bond financing and the effect of green innovation.Therefore,the study of third-party green certification in this dissertation is of great significance to the improvement of the standard system for green bond evaluation and certification in the future,and to the strengthening and unification of institutions in terms of the evaluation and certification process,the content of evaluation and certification,and the reporting form.(4)Advanced theoretical research on green finance.This dissertation takes green bonds as an example to discuss the implementation effect of green fiscal policy.It is found that compared with green credit policy,green bonds as green capital financing behavior also represent a green signal that can reduce financing costs and facilitate financing.Restricting and optimizing the maturity structure of debt,improving the investment efficiency of enterprises and promoting the initiative of enterprises to actively take responsibility for environmental protection,as well as promoting the green transformation of enterprises,show that green bonds and green credit policies have certain complementary effects.Therefore,this dissertation not only deepens the understanding of the implementation effects of various green financial instruments,but also enriches the theoretical research on green finance.The results of this dissertation are under the strategic goal of "carbon peak and carbon neutrality".On the one hand,it is important for policy makers to continuously improve the construction of the green financing system,expand the channels for diversified green capital,and attract more social capital to invest in the development of green industries.On the other hand,it is important to better understand the dual characteristics of green bonds,promote enterprises’ enthusiasm for green bond issuance,and improve the green bond certification mechanism and information disclosure mechanism. |
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