Influence of China’s environmental regulation policies on corporate green innovation: a space autoregressive difference-in-differences analysis

This paper uses the data of Chinese listed companies from 2008 to 2019, selects a space autoregressive difference-in-difference model (SAR-DID) to research environmental regulation policies on corporate green innovation, and empirically tests the impact of Energy Consumption Rights Trading (ECRT), Environmental Protection Interview (EPI), and the simultaneous implementation of the two policies (ECRT and EPI). The research results show that enterprise green innovation has produced a positive spatial spillover effect. The implementation of ECRT has a positive effect on corporate green innovation and has a long-term effect, while the implementation of EPI also has a positive effect on corporate green innovation, but the effect is “immediate” and less pronounced and lasting than ECRT. The promotion effect of ECRT and EPI is higher than the net effect of the two policies, but it will weaken over time. The promotion effect of environmental regulation policies on corporate green innovation is more concentrated in the eastern regions and non-heavy polluting industries. Therefore, China should implement both ECRT and EPI simultaneously, with ECRT in the first place and EPI in the second, and actively explore ways to keep the policies effective in the long-term. Depending on the incentive impact of environmental regulations in different regions and industries, differentiated environmental regulations should be applied to promote the technological transformation of enterprises and strengthen green innovation.