Corporate ESG performance and green innovation: moderating effect of shareholder activism

IF 8 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Journal of Environmental Management Pub Date : 2025-04-24 DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.125413

Lei Zhu , Tong Li , Chunyan Wang , Junhao Huang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance are gaining momentum to corporate sustainable development. Based on non-financial listed enterprises in China from 2013 to 2023, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of ESG performance on green innovation and shareholder activism's moderating role. We find that ESG performance effectively promotes corporate green innovation. Shareholder activism, represented by institutional investors' field survey and appointing directors, will strengthen this impact. Further analysis reveals “the superstar effect” on industrial ESG performance disparity as well as a more significant effect in non-heavy pollution enterprises and industries with fierce competition. We also examine ESG performance's greenization effect, resulting in lowered carbon dioxide emission and waste pollutants. This study contributes to extant research on the correlation of ESG performance and corporate green innovation, and additionally provide insights into shareholder activism from the perspective of institutional investors' active intervention in corporate governance.

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企业ESG绩效与绿色创新：股东行动主义的调节效应

环境、社会和治理（ESG）绩效正成为企业可持续发展的动力。本文以2013 - 2023年中国非金融类上市企业为研究对象，实证分析了ESG绩效对绿色创新的影响以及股东维权主义的调节作用。研究发现，ESG绩效有效地促进了企业的绿色创新。以机构投资者实地调查和任命董事为代表的股东行动主义将加强这种影响。进一步分析发现，“超级明星效应”对行业ESG绩效差异的影响更为显著，对非重污染企业和竞争激烈行业的影响更为显著。我们还研究了ESG绩效的绿色化效应，从而降低了二氧化碳排放和废物污染物。本研究为现有的ESG绩效与企业绿色创新的相关研究提供了补充，并从机构投资者积极干预公司治理的角度对股东维权主义进行了深入研究。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Environmental Management 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

13.70

自引率

5.70%

发文量

2477

审稿时长

84 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Environmental Management is a journal for the publication of peer reviewed, original research for all aspects of management and the managed use of the environment, both natural and man-made.Critical review articles are also welcome; submission of these is strongly encouraged.