Capital University of Economics and Business

Zhang D., Mohsin M., Rasheed A.K., Chang Y., Taghizadeh-Hesary F.

Generally, public spending on education, research, and development (R&D) is perceived to impact the economy and sustainability positively; however, such notion lacks evidence, particularly in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) member countries. In this study, panel data of BRI member countries from 2008 to 2018 is analysed using the generalized method of moments (GMM) method and data envelopement analysis (DEA) to assess the relationship between public spending on R&D and green economic growth and energy efficiency. The study found a fluctuating green economic growth indicator during the research period attributed to the non-serious nature of government policies. The findings reveal that the GMM method confirms both composition and technique effects in the entire sample. Nonetheless, the result of the sub-sample showed a heterogeneous effect on high GDP per capita countries. Moreover, the study shows that public spending on human resources and R&D of green energy technologies prompts a sustainable green economy through labour and technology-oriented production activities and different effects in different countries. • Generalized method of moments used to assess the determinants of green growth. • The non-serious nature of government policies fluctuates the green growth indicators. • Public green finance promotes green economic growth. • Spending on human resources and R&D of green technologies promotes green growth. • The proliferation of human resource and innovations are essential to green growth.

Wang J., Ma M., Dong T., Zhang Z.

Corporate efforts in green technology improvements are critical for enhancing sustainability; consequently, how to promote green innovation has attracted scholarly attention. This study explores whether and how environment, social, and governance (ESG) ratings influence corporate green innovation by using an independent third-party rating agency's (SynTao Green Finance) ESG ratings in China as a quasi-natural experiment. We find companies covered by the ESG rating agency significantly increase green innovation output by 3.9%, mainly as an increase in green invention patents. ESG ratings' positive effects on green innovation are more pronounced for firms whose investors are less short-sighted, non-state-owned enterprises and firms with higher degree of financial constraints. Additionally, we find ESG ratings' impact can also increase the green innovation quality and synergetic green innovation. Thus, ESG ratings from third-party institutions can effectively increase corporate green innovation, which has important implications for companies to achieve green transformation and for emerging markets to improve ESG rating systems.

Li T., Wang K., Sueyoshi T., Wang D.D.

The sustainable development of the global economy and society calls for the practice of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) principle. The ESG principle has been developed for 17 years following its formal proposal in 2004. Countries around the world continue to promote the coordinated development of the environment, society, and governance in accordance with the ESG principle. In order to review and summarize ESG research, this study takes the literature related to ESG research as the research object and presents the cooperation status, hot spots, and trends of ESG research with the help of the literature analysis tool CiteSpace. On the basis of quantitative analysis results, this study presents an examination and comprehensive summary of progress in the research into ESG combined with a systematic literature review. This includes the theoretical basis of ESG research, the interaction between the dimensions of ESG, the impact of ESG on the economic consequences, the risk prevention role of ESG, and ESG measurement. Based on the systematic summary of research progress, this paper further refines the characteristics of ESG research, reveals the shortcomings of ESG research, and propose a focus for ESG research in the future in order to provide a reference for academic research and the practice of ESG.

Xu X., Li J.

Green credit plays an increasingly important role in promoting environmentally friendly enterprises and limiting polluting enterprises by regulating the flow of social capital to strengthen environmental governance and promote green production in society. Taking China as an example, this paper surveys the asymmetric impacts of the policy and development of green credit on the debt financing cost and maturity of different types of enterprises. It uses the fixed effect model based on the Hausman test and the mediating effect analysis method to quantify the panel data of 52 green enterprises and 81 high-pollution and high-emissions (referred to as “two-high”) enterprises in China from 2001 to 2017. The findings are as follows: (1) both green credit policy and green credit development increase the debt financing cost of “two-high” enterprises, but they reduce the debt financing cost of green enterprises; (2) green credit policy and the development of green credit reduce the debt financing maturity of “two-high” enterprises, while they have little impact on the debt financing maturity of green enterprises; (3) the impact of green credit policy on enterprise debt financing cost and maturity occurs partly through the development of green credit; and (4) with respect to the debt financing cost and maturity, enterprises in economically developed regions are more strongly affected by green credit than those in economically underdeveloped regions. The conclusions will help the government, banks and enterprises make their environmental protection and financing decisions.

Wang Y., Hong A., Li X., Gao J.

As a worldwide disaster, the COVID-19 crisis is profoundly affecting the development of the global economy and threatening the survival of firms worldwide. It seems unavoidable that this natural disruption has hit the global economy and produced a huge crisis for firms. This study explores how firms in China are innovating their marketing strategies by critically identifying the typology of firms' marketing innovations using two dimensions, namely, motivation for innovations and the level of collaborative innovations. This research also explores the influence of the external environment, internal advantages (e.g., dynamic capabilities and resource dependence), and characteristics of firms on Chinese firms' choice and implementation of marketing innovation strategies. It provides valuable insights for firms to respond successfully to similar crisis events in the future.

Ren X., Li J., He F., Lucey B.

Extreme weather anomalies act as threat multipliers, warning us to focus on low-carbon transition and sustainable development. This study analyses the dynamic bidirectional causality between climate policy uncertainty (CPU) and traditional energy, represented by oil, coal, and natural gas, as well as green markets, represented by clean energy, green bonds, and carbon trading. This research provides the first comprehensive assessment of CPUs across multiple dimensions of different energy properties, causal spillover directions, and temporal heterogeneity using the time-varying Granger test. The results indicate that significant dynamic causality exists within each series rather than the entire period, and that causality manifests differently between pairs of series. In addition, CPU is more inclined to act as a risk recipient than a sender in the market volatility spillover. Whenever extreme climate events or major climate policy changes are encountered, the causal relationship between CPU and the relevant markets will rise significantly. Overall, governments should pay attention to the role of climate policy implementation in energy transition as well as attempt to reduce uncertainty.

Chen Y., Ma Y.

This paper aims to provide new evidence on the relationship between green investment and firm performance through micro-level data. Data of energy listed firms in China from 2008 to 2017 are used here to explore this relationship. The research results show that green investment has a significant and positive correlation with financial performance, that is, increasing green investment helps improve financial performance. In the third year after investment in energy conservation and emission reduction, financial performance has been significantly improved. Additionally, environmental tax, government subsidies, and technological innovation have different positive moderating effects on green investment in promoting financial performance, and this result is more obvious in the long-term performance. Lastly, this paper finds that green investment helps reduce environmental violations and promote environmental performance, and environmental performance can strengthen the impact of green investment in improving the long-term performance of firms. This conclusion implies that firms should take environmental investment as its long-term strategy.

Chen Y., Miao J., Zhu Z.

Agricultural sector is the basic industry supporting the construction and development of national economy. With the continuous deterioration of agricultural pollution, measuring and understanding agricultural total factor productivity (AGTFP) is the important premise to achieve agricultural green development and clean production. Regarding carbon emissions and agricultural non-point source pollution (ANSP) as undesired outputs, this paper applies a three-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method combined with the Slack-Based Measure (SBM) model to eliminate the influences of environmental factors and random errors and explore the real AGTFP of 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2017.On this basis, the spatial distribution and dynamic changes of AGTFP before and after adjustment are further discussed to seek the underlying reasons. The empirical results demonstrate that AGTFP is lower when carbon emissions and ANSP are both considered, and it decreases from east to west in StageⅠbut the Northeast region surpasses the East to achieve the highest productivity after removing the interferences. Moreover, China's AGTFP has been restricted by the external environment, and superior external environment disguises the poor management efficiency of Beijing and Shanghai. Therefore, some policy implications to balance agricultural environment and economic development are proposed. • Non-point source pollution and CO 2 are integrated to measure agricultural green efficiency. • A three-stage SBM-DEA approach is employed to calculate the real agricultural green total factor productivity. • Different environmental factors have different effects on the slack of agricultural inputs. • China's agricultural green total factor productivity is restricted by the external environment.

Zhang D., Mohsin M., Taghizadeh-Hesary F.

Economies must decarbonize their energy sectors to meet their climate-policy objectives. This requires high investment in low-carbon energy infrastructure; however, there is a shortage of financial resources. In this study, based on data from 2008 to 2018 G-20 economies, we estimated the impact of green finance and digital finance on environmental protection using a quantile regression model. The results show that CO 2 emissions in the environment are reduced by green finance, renewable energy investment, and technological innovation, as shown in the panel quantile regression findings, whereas CO 2 emissions are increased by factors such as economic growth, energy consumption, trade, and foreign direct investment. This study proposes different ways for policymakers to increase the impact of green finance, promote digital finance, and create a carbon-trading market for sustainable development. • There is a shortage of financial resources to achieve carbon neutrality. • We estimated the impact of green finance on environmental protection. • CO 2 emissions would be reduced by green finance. • Promoting digital finance and the carbon trading market would foster sustainable development.

Zhang Y., Li S., Luo T., Gao J.

Carbon trading systems are increasingly used by many countries nowadays to reduce carbon emission and improve the quality of environment. To evaluate the effect of emission trading system on carbon emission reduction, this study applies a robust econometric method difference-in-difference estimation on city-level panel data in China from 2004 to 2015. The findings of this study indicate that the emission trading policy adopted in pilot regions has reduced carbon emission by approximately 16.2% and such effect is particularly prominent in eastern areas of China where the economy is more developed. Moreover, other factors such as the development of the second industry and foreign direct investment are also found to affect carbon emission. The results of this study provide evidence for the success of the emission trading system in reducing carbon emission across pilot cities and suggest that an expanded scope of carbon trading mechanism adopted in China would further control the carbon emission. Meanwhile, a multi-level emission trading system from central to local government needs to be built using a variety of market-based instruments to promote the equal development of carbon trading market in various regions with different economic development levels.