Can energy efficiency credit guidelines boost enterprises' low-carbon technological innovation? Evidence from China

This research takes China's “Energy Efficiency Credit Guidelines (EECG)” as a quasi-natural experiment and uses the propensity score matching-difference-in-differences (PSM-DID) method to examine the impact of incentive-based energy efficiency credit policies on corporate low-carbon technological innovation. The research finds that the EECG have exerted a positive incentive effect, promoted corporate low-carbon technological innovation and showed a trend of “improving quantity and increasing quality.” Mechanism analysis shows that the EECG mainly incentivize low-carbon technological innovation by promoting financing competition among firms, inhibiting corporate financialization, attracting green investors, and strengthening firms' awareness of climate risks. Moderating effect analysis reveals that climate policy uncertainty has an inverted U-shaped moderating effect on the policy effectiveness of the EECG. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the innovation incentive effect of energy efficiency credit is stronger in firms with executives having environmental backgrounds, technology-intensive firms, and firms located in regions with lower levels of informal financial development. Finally, the promotion of low-carbon technological innovation by the EECG further optimizes firms' ESG (environmental, social, and governance) performance.