Climate policy uncertainty, environmental regulation, and corporate green innovation

Green innovation is an important driver for enterprises to realize sustainable development, but there are “double externalities” of environmental protection and knowledge spillovers. The climate policy uncertainty is a “driver” for corporate green innovation, or a “barrier” hindering corporate green...

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Main Authors: Dan Yi, Jun Hu, Jianlan Yang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-04-01
Series:Frontiers in Environmental Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2025.1570848/full
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author Dan Yi
Jun Hu
Jianlan Yang
author_facet Dan Yi
Jun Hu
Jianlan Yang
author_sort Dan Yi
collection DOAJ
description Green innovation is an important driver for enterprises to realize sustainable development, but there are “double externalities” of environmental protection and knowledge spillovers. The climate policy uncertainty is a “driver” for corporate green innovation, or a “barrier” hindering corporate green innovation. Existing literature has explored the relationship between the two based on specific industries, but no consistent conclusions have been reached. This article uses study employs data from 3,763 publicly listed companies in China from 2010 to 2020 as an empirical research sample to analyze examine the actual impact of climate policy uncertainty on corporate green innovation and its underlying mechanisms. It further examines the effects of climate policy uncertainty on different types of green innovation activities and the moderating effect of corporate social responsibility. The study finds that climate policy uncertainty can promote corporate green innovation, primarily through channels such as enhancing environmental regulation. Both corporate social responsibility and ESG performance have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between climate policy uncertainty and corporate green innovation. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that climate policy uncertainty can foster green innovation in state-owned enterprises, large enterprises, companies in eastern regions, and those in areas with lower levels of green finance development further research indicates that from the perspective of green innovation motivation, climate policy uncertainty promotes strategic green innovation but does not have a significant effect on substantive green innovation. The findings of this study provide a theoretical foundation and practical insights for the government in formulating relevant climate policies and promoting green innovation in enterprises.
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spelling doaj-art-10ef040937504f379c9f2beb5bb43f282025-08-20T02:29:24ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Environmental Science2296-665X2025-04-011310.3389/fenvs.2025.15708481570848Climate policy uncertainty, environmental regulation, and corporate green innovationDan Yi0Jun Hu1Jianlan Yang2School of Economics and Management, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, ChinaSchool of Economics, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, ChinaGreen innovation is an important driver for enterprises to realize sustainable development, but there are “double externalities” of environmental protection and knowledge spillovers. The climate policy uncertainty is a “driver” for corporate green innovation, or a “barrier” hindering corporate green innovation. Existing literature has explored the relationship between the two based on specific industries, but no consistent conclusions have been reached. This article uses study employs data from 3,763 publicly listed companies in China from 2010 to 2020 as an empirical research sample to analyze examine the actual impact of climate policy uncertainty on corporate green innovation and its underlying mechanisms. It further examines the effects of climate policy uncertainty on different types of green innovation activities and the moderating effect of corporate social responsibility. The study finds that climate policy uncertainty can promote corporate green innovation, primarily through channels such as enhancing environmental regulation. Both corporate social responsibility and ESG performance have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between climate policy uncertainty and corporate green innovation. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that climate policy uncertainty can foster green innovation in state-owned enterprises, large enterprises, companies in eastern regions, and those in areas with lower levels of green finance development further research indicates that from the perspective of green innovation motivation, climate policy uncertainty promotes strategic green innovation but does not have a significant effect on substantive green innovation. The findings of this study provide a theoretical foundation and practical insights for the government in formulating relevant climate policies and promoting green innovation in enterprises.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2025.1570848/fullclimate policy uncertaintycorporate green innovationenvironmental regulationcorporate social responsibilityESG performance
spellingShingle Dan Yi
Jun Hu
Jianlan Yang
Climate policy uncertainty, environmental regulation, and corporate green innovation
Frontiers in Environmental Science
climate policy uncertainty
corporate green innovation
environmental regulation
corporate social responsibility
ESG performance
title Climate policy uncertainty, environmental regulation, and corporate green innovation
title_full Climate policy uncertainty, environmental regulation, and corporate green innovation
title_fullStr Climate policy uncertainty, environmental regulation, and corporate green innovation
title_full_unstemmed Climate policy uncertainty, environmental regulation, and corporate green innovation
title_short Climate policy uncertainty, environmental regulation, and corporate green innovation
title_sort climate policy uncertainty environmental regulation and corporate green innovation
topic climate policy uncertainty
corporate green innovation
environmental regulation
corporate social responsibility
ESG performance
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2025.1570848/full
work_keys_str_mv AT danyi climatepolicyuncertaintyenvironmentalregulationandcorporategreeninnovation
AT junhu climatepolicyuncertaintyenvironmentalregulationandcorporategreeninnovation
AT jianlanyang climatepolicyuncertaintyenvironmentalregulationandcorporategreeninnovation