Air pollution and green mergers and acquisitions: An empirical study on heavily polluting enterprises

IF 5.6 2区经济学 Q1 BUSINESS, FINANCE

International Review of Economics & Finance Pub Date : 2025-07-25 DOI:10.1016/j.iref.2025.104479

Liangkai Zhao , Huayue Yang

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Abstract

This study utilizes comprehensive data from Chinese listed companies covering the period from 2014 to 2018 to analyze the impact of air pollution on green mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of heavily polluting enterprises (HPEs). Our findings indicate that air pollution significantly promotes green M&As of HPEs. The robustness of our results is validated through various identification methods and alternative measures. Additionally, we identify government pressure on air pollution governance as a potential mechanism underlying the observed relationship. Furthermore, the incentive effect of air pollution on green M&As of HPEs is more pronounced among key-monitored enterprises, enterprises located in cities where officials have received promotions and state-owned enterprises. Moreover, air pollution also significantly enhances the financial and environmental performance of HPEs after green M&As. Overall, our study illuminates the economic consequences of air pollution, thereby contributing to the existing literature on air pollution and corporate green M&As.

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大气污染与绿色并购：基于重污染企业的实证研究

本研究利用2014 - 2018年中国上市公司的综合数据，分析了大气污染对重污染企业绿色并购的影响。我们的研究结果表明，空气污染显著促进了hpe的绿色管理；通过各种识别方法和替代措施验证了我们结果的稳健性。此外，我们确定政府对空气污染治理的压力是观察到的关系背后的潜在机制。此外，空气污染对高绩效企业绿色绩效的激励作用在重点监控企业、官员升迁城市企业和国有企业中更为明显。此外，空气污染也显著提高了绿色并购a后hpe的财务和环境绩效。总的来说，我们的研究阐明了空气污染的经济后果，从而对现有的关于空气污染和企业绿色管理的文献有所贡献。

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

International Review of Economics & Finance Multiple-

CiteScore

7.30

自引率

2.20%

发文量

253

期刊介绍： The International Review of Economics & Finance (IREF) is a scholarly journal devoted to the publication of high quality theoretical and empirical articles in all areas of international economics, macroeconomics and financial economics. Contributions that facilitate the communications between the real and the financial sectors of the economy are of particular interest.