Environmental Regulation,Technological Innovation And Firm Performance

The report of the 20 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that to implement the carbon peak plan,we should formulate corresponding plans and advance them step by step.We should strengthen the construction of a new low-carbon energy system and promote low-carbon development.With the increasingly severe environmental problems,the country has begun to gradually improve the level of environmental regulation and formulate a series of environmental regulation policies.However,the existing research has not reached a unanimous conclusion on whether the implementation of relevant policies will have an impact on enterprises.In this paper,based on a quasi-natural experiment of low-carbon city pilot policy,1273 heavily polluting listed enterprises from 2006-2021 are selected for analysis and research,mainly based on Porter’s hypothesis theory to investigate the relationship between environmental regulation and firm performance,while introducing the mediating variable-technological innovation.The relationship between environmental regulation and firm performance is examined by double difference method,and then heterogeneity analysis is conducted according to the nature of property rights and regions.The following results are reached by this study through theoretical and empirical analyses:(1)low-carbon city pilot policies have a significant positive impact on firm performance;(2)environmental regulation of low-carbon city pilot policies can promote firm performance by promoting the investment in technological innovation;(3)in terms of property rights attributes,Non-state-owned businesses influence environmental regulation rules more favorably than state-owned businesses do;in terms of geographical Geographically,enterprises in the eastern region of China are more significantly positively influenced by the pilot low-carbon city policy.Through the above research and analysis,this paper lays a theoretical foundation for the transformation and upgrading of enterprises in heavy pollution industries,and also provides a reference for the relevant national departments to formulate policies.Finally,this paper gives suggestions for countermeasures based on two levels:(1)at the enterprise level,it is recommended to consider the long-term development goals of enterprises,make appropriate adjustments based on environmental regulation policies and consider the actual situation of enterprises,and strengthen the importance of technological innovation in development,which helps enterprises improve their business performance;(2)at the government level,uphold stricter environmental regulations,increase the strength of environmental regulation and supervision,formulate appropriate environmental policies according to different situations,and guide and stimulate enterprises’ technological innovation.