{"title":"Impact of the National Ecological Civilization Construction Demonstration Zone on corporate ESG: Evidence from China","authors":"Li Qin, Yin Feng, Ran Wang, Yue Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2024.112463","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the effect of implementation of the National Ecological Civilization Construction Demonstration Zone (NECCDZ) policy in China as a quasi-natural experiment on Chinese listed firms’ ESG performance. By utilizing a multi-period differences-in-differences model, the empirical results reveal that the NECCDZ policy boosted the ESG performance of China’s A-share listed companies in the pilot region by an average of 38%. However, the NECCDZ policy has differential effects on the three subdimensions of ESG. More specifically, the NECCDZ policy significantly improves the social responsibility performance and governance performance of the company, and has a lagged positive effect on the environmental performance. The mechanism analysis shows that the NECCDZ policy enhances corporate ESG practices by promoting enterprise green technology innovation, while media attention positively moderates the impact of the NECCDZ policy on corporate ESG practices. Further analysis shows that the NECCDZ policy also improves the enterprises’ financing environment through government subsidies and public investment. Overall, the empirical findings show the effectiveness of NECCDZ policy in enhancing ESG practices at the enterprise level and offer a new approach to improving corporate ESG finance in emerging markets such as China.","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ecological Indicators","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2024.112463","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study examines the effect of implementation of the National Ecological Civilization Construction Demonstration Zone (NECCDZ) policy in China as a quasi-natural experiment on Chinese listed firms’ ESG performance. By utilizing a multi-period differences-in-differences model, the empirical results reveal that the NECCDZ policy boosted the ESG performance of China’s A-share listed companies in the pilot region by an average of 38%. However, the NECCDZ policy has differential effects on the three subdimensions of ESG. More specifically, the NECCDZ policy significantly improves the social responsibility performance and governance performance of the company, and has a lagged positive effect on the environmental performance. The mechanism analysis shows that the NECCDZ policy enhances corporate ESG practices by promoting enterprise green technology innovation, while media attention positively moderates the impact of the NECCDZ policy on corporate ESG practices. Further analysis shows that the NECCDZ policy also improves the enterprises’ financing environment through government subsidies and public investment. Overall, the empirical findings show the effectiveness of NECCDZ policy in enhancing ESG practices at the enterprise level and offer a new approach to improving corporate ESG finance in emerging markets such as China.
本研究将中国国家生态文明建设示范区(NECCDZ)政策的实施作为一项准自然实验,考察了其对中国上市公司ESG绩效的影响。通过使用多期差异模型,实证结果表明,国家生态文明建设示范区政策使试点地区中国 A 股上市公司的环境、社会和公司治理绩效平均提高了 38%。但是,国家经济技术开发区政策对ESG的三个子维度产生了不同的影响。具体而言,国家经济技术开发区政策显著提高了公司的社会责任绩效和治理绩效,并对环境绩效产生了滞后的积极影响。机理分析表明,国家经济合作和发展区政策通过促进企业绿色技术创新来增强企业的环境、社会和治理实践,而媒体关注则正向调节了国家经济合作和发展区政策对企业环境、社会和治理实践的影响。进一步分析表明,国家经济技术开发区政策还通过政府补贴和公共投资改善了企业的融资环境。总体而言,实证研究结果表明,国家经济合作和发展区政策在企业层面提升企业环境、社会和治理实践的有效性,并为中国等新兴市场改善企业环境、社会和治理融资提供了新的思路。
期刊介绍:
The ultimate aim of Ecological Indicators is to integrate the monitoring and assessment of ecological and environmental indicators with management practices. The journal provides a forum for the discussion of the applied scientific development and review of traditional indicator approaches as well as for theoretical, modelling and quantitative applications such as index development. Research into the following areas will be published.
• All aspects of ecological and environmental indicators and indices.
• New indicators, and new approaches and methods for indicator development, testing and use.
• Development and modelling of indices, e.g. application of indicator suites across multiple scales and resources.
• Analysis and research of resource, system- and scale-specific indicators.
• Methods for integration of social and other valuation metrics for the production of scientifically rigorous and politically-relevant assessments using indicator-based monitoring and assessment programs.
• How research indicators can be transformed into direct application for management purposes.
• Broader assessment objectives and methods, e.g. biodiversity, biological integrity, and sustainability, through the use of indicators.
• Resource-specific indicators such as landscape, agroecosystems, forests, wetlands, etc.