Greening the future: How green manufacturing shapes corporate environmental and ESG success

Abstract

This paper examines whether and how green manufacturing enhances corporate environmental performances. We find that the green manufacturing policy significantly improves firm environmental performance. Mechanisms analysis show that green manufacturing will affect corporate environmental performances through fostering corporate green innovation, relieving financing constraints, and promoting environmental information disclosure. The impacts of green manufacturing on corporate environmental performances are more pronounced in non-state-owned firms, firms with lower environmentally regulated level, heavily polluting firms, and large-scale companies. Finally, we find that the green manufacturing policy can also improve firm overall ESG performance. This paper contributes to the growing literature on firm environmental behavior and proposes tailored policy implications for the government to address the challenges of green development.