Does environmental protection tax impact corporate ESG greenwashing? A quasi-natural experiment in China

IF 7.9 2区经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS

Economic Analysis and Policy Pub Date : 2024-09-28 DOI:10.1016/j.eap.2024.09.029

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The recently implemented environmental protection tax (EPT) policy in China provides the opportunity to conduct a quasi-natural experiment to empirically evaluate environmental regulations’ impact on corporate practices. We adopt the difference-in-differences method to analyze the effect and mechanisms of the EPT on corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) greenwashing based on Chinese A-share listed companies from 2015 to 2021. The empirical results show that the EPT drives companies to engage in ESG greenwashing, significantly increasing ESG greenwashing by approximately 13.16 %. The mechanism tests demonstrate that the EPT exerts governance pressure but does not create more resources, making companies more likely to achieve compliance through greenwashing. Furthermore, the effect of the EPT on ESG greenwashing is more pronounced for large companies and those located in regions with high economic development and strong regulatory enforcement. Our study provides solid evidence with valuable implications for improving the EPT policy to achieve green and sustainable development.

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环境保护税是否会影响企业的环境、社会和治理（ESG）"洗绿 "行为？中国的准自然实验

中国最近实施的环境保护税（EPT）政策为开展准自然实验以实证评估环境法规对企业行为的影响提供了机会。我们以 2015 年至 2021 年的中国 A 股上市公司为研究对象，采用差分法分析了环保税对企业环境、社会和治理（ESG）"洗绿 "行为的影响及其机制。实证结果表明，EPT促使企业进行ESG绿化，使ESG绿化显著增加约13.16%。机制检验表明，EPT 施加了治理压力，但并没有创造更多资源，使公司更有可能通过 "洗绿 "实现合规。此外，EPT 对 ESG 洗绿的影响对于大公司和位于经济发展水平高、监管执行力度强的地区的公司更为明显。我们的研究为改进 EPT 政策以实现绿色可持续发展提供了可靠的证据和有价值的启示。

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来源期刊

Economic Analysis and Policy ECONOMICS-

CiteScore

9.80

自引率

9.20%

发文量

231

审稿时长

93 days

期刊介绍： Economic Analysis and Policy (established 1970) publishes articles from all branches of economics with a particular focus on research, theoretical and applied, which has strong policy relevance. The journal also publishes survey articles and empirical replications on key policy issues. Authors are expected to highlight the main insights in a non-technical introduction and in the conclusion.