Green Credit, Digital Economy and Enterprise Pollution Reduction

Abstract

Green credit is an important practical exploration to reduce the environmental pollution of enterprises through the allocation of financial resources. Based on the panel data for the Chinese enterprises, this research constructs a difference-in-differences (DID) model to explore the influence of green credit policy (GCP) on the enterprise’s pollution emission and discusses the moderation effect of digital economy. The results show that the GCP can reduce the enterprise pollution emission. Specifically, the implementation of the GCP has reduced the sulfur dioxide emission intensity of enterprises by 1.53 kg/thousand yuan. The pollution reduction effect of GCP on different enterprises shows significant asymmetry: the implementation effect is better on enterprises with stronger financing constraints and state-owned enterprises, while enterprises in capital-intensive industries inhibit the effect of the policy. Specifically, the implementation of the GCP has reduced the sulfur dioxide emission intensity of state-owned and non-state-owned enterprises by 1.72 and 0.977 kg/thousand yuan, respectively, and reduced that for enterprises in capital-intensive and non-capital-intensive industries by 0.719 and 1.437 kg/thousand yuan, respectively. The development of digital economy will promote the pollution reduction effect of GCP, and the two will work together to reduce pollution emissions. Finally, some policy suggestions are put forward to optimize the current green credit policies.