Does environmental information disclosure promote enterprise green technology innovation?

Abstract

Accelerating green technology innovation is essential for promoting economic transformation and achieving sustainable development. Environmental information disclosure (EID) at the city level, as a crucial component of the environmental governance system, provides new opportunities to drive enterprise green technology innovation. This study utilizes the Pollution Source Supervision Information Disclosure Index (PITI), implemented in China since 2008, as a quasi-natural experiment for EID. By integrating data from Chinese A-share listed companies spanning the period from 2003 to 2020, a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model is employed to identify the influence of EID. The findings indicate a positive association between EID and enterprise green technology innovation, resulting in concurrent enhancements in both quantity and quality. The robustness of the conclusions remains intact even after addressing endogeneity concerns. Mechanism analysis reveals that EID stimulates environmental governance by facilitating public participation-based, command-control, and market-incentive environmental regulation, thereby fostering enterprise green technology innovation. In addition, the impact of EID on enterprise green technology innovation is heterogeneous, with the policy effect being more pronounced in highly marketized and resource-rich samples. Finally, combining theoretical analyses and empirical results, relevant suggestions are made for formulating more flexible environmental regulatory policies and building a diversified environmental governance system.