绿色低碳转型与企业环境社会责任——基于低碳城市试点的准自然实验

郑梦¹　常哲仁²

（1. 北京联合大学管理学院；2. 江苏省社会科学院财贸研究所）

　　内容提要：低碳城市试点政策是中国控制温室气体排放、推动经济低碳转型的重要政策。本文基于2006—2020年中国A股上市公司数据，采用多时点双重差分模型，评估低碳城市试点政策对企业环境社会责任的影响。研究结果显示，低碳城市试点政策的实施能够显著促进企业履行环境社会责任，且该结论在经过稳健性检验后依然成立。机制检验表明，试点政策通过提升绿色技术创新与绿色环保投资水平促进企业履行环境社会责任。从异质性角度看，位于高法治水平与高市场亲密程度城市的企业、高碳行业企业、国有企业、老企业与家族企业的环境社会责任表现更容易受到试点政策的影响。此外，媒体关注可以正向调节试点政策对企业环境社会责任的积极影响。本文的结论拓宽了试点政策效应评估的研究，有利于政府、企业与媒体形成绿色低碳转型合力，可以为实现环境保护与企业绩效增长相协调的可持续发展提供政策启示。

　　

　　关键词：低碳城市试点政策；企业环境社会责任；绿色技术创新；绿色环保投资；媒体关注

　　

　　作者简介：郑梦，北京联合大学管理学院讲师，北京，100101；常哲仁，江苏省社会科学院财贸研究所助理研究员，通信作者，南京，210004。

　　

　　基金项目：中国社会科学院大学研究生科研创新支持计划“创新试点政策能够提高城市经济韧性吗？——来自准自然实验的证据”（2022-KY-08）；北京联合大学科研项目 “中国上市公司ESG表现与长期资金投资偏好研究”（SK20202205）

　　

　　引用格式：郑梦,常哲仁.绿色低碳转型与企业环境社会责任——基于低碳城市试点的准自然实验[J].经济与管理研究,2023,44(7):126-144.DOI:10.13502/j.cnki.issn1000-7636.2023.07.008.

　　

　　

Green and Low-carbon Transition and Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility

—A Quasi-natural Experiment Based on Low-carbon City Pilots

ZHENG Meng¹, CHANG Zheren²

(1.Beijing Union University, Beijing 100101;

2. Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, Nanjing 210004)

　　

　　Abstract: The low-carbon city pilot policy is a crucial measure in China’s efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions and facilitate the transition towards a low-carbon economy. This paper uses the panel data of 894 A-share listed firms in China from 2006 to 2020 to empirically analyze the impact and mechanism of the low-carbon city pilot policy on environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR). It employs the multi-period difference-in-differences model to assess the relationship between the low-carbon city pilot policy and ECSR. After the robustness test, the mechanism test, and the heterogeneity analysis, it examines the moderating effect of external media attention on ECSR.

　　The findings are as follows. First, the benchmark regression analysis shows that the implementation of the low-carbon city pilot policy can significantly promote the fulfillment of ECSR, which is still valid after robustness tests. Second, the mechanism analysis implies that the pilot policy enhances the ECSR performance by improving the level of green technology innovation and green environmental protection investment. Third, in terms of heterogeneity, the pilot policy is more likely to affect the ECSR performance of firms located in cities with high levels of rule of law and market intimacy, firms in high-carbon industries, state-owned firms, older firms, and family firms.

　　This paper extends the evaluation of the effect of the pilot policy, which is conducive to the formation of the green and low-carbon transition synergy among the government, firms, and the media. It also provides policy insights for achieving sustainable development that coordinates environmental protection and corporate performance growth. Specifically, firms should actively respond to the low-carbon city pilot policy and integrate the green and low-carbon transition into business strategies. Green technology innovation and green environmental protection investment are important mechanisms for the pilot policy to improve ECSR. In addition, the low-carbon transition of high-carbon industries is the focus of promoting the construction of low-carbon cities and realizing the technical transformation. Therefore, local governments should formulate more detailed technical transformation plans for high-carbon industries while implementing the pilot policy. As the media is one of the external governance subjects of green corporate social responsibility, its continuous attention to firms’ green behaviors will strengthen the guidance and governance functions of the low-carbon city pilot policy for firms to fulfill ECSR.

　

　　Keywords: low-carbon city pilot policy; environmental corporate social responsibility; green technology innovation; green environmental protection investment； media attention