Research on the Impact Mechanisms of Environmental Regulation on Enterprise Digital Transformation and Green Development : The Case of China

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

As global climate change becomes increasingly severe, environmental regulation policies have become one of the key strategies for countries to pursue green economic development. China has proposed the "dual carbon" goals, emphasizing the use of economic instruments such as carbon emission trading to guide corporate behavior and achieve coordinated development between digital transformation and green growth. Environmental regulation, as one of the factors influencing corporate responses to carbon cost pressures and incentives for low-carbon innovation, will profoundly impact corporate technology R&D and digital sustainable development strategies. Therefore, studying the interaction mechanisms between environmental regulation, digital transformation, and green development is of great theoretical significance for deepening regulatory economics and green development, and can also provide effective guidance for the formulation and implementation of "dual carbon" policies.
Using panel data of China A-share listed companies from 2001 to 2024 as the research sample, this paper systematically analyzes the impact mechanism of carbon emission trading pilot policies on corporate digital transformation and their role in green development through the difference-in-differences method. The study constructs a difference-in-differences model with corporate digital transformation level (DLTN) as the dependent variable and the cross-term (did) as the core explanatory variable, while designing a mediation effect model to test the transmission effects of financing constraints and green development. Through robustness tests such as parallel trend tests and placebo tests, as well as heterogeneity analysis based on corporate nature and governance structure, the findings reveal that carbon emission trading pilot policies significantly promote corporate digital transformation, with a cross-term coefficient of 0.231 that is significant at the 1% level. The policy effects show significant differences across corporate types, with private enterprises and non-two-in-one enterprises responding more positively. Green development partially mediates the relationship between environmental regulation and digital transformation, indirectly driving the digital process by incentivizing green technological innovation. Financing constraints also play a full mediation role but manifest as a masking effect, meaning that while increasing compliance costs, policies may tighten corporate financing conditions. Based on the empirical results, this paper proposes policy recommendations including strengthening digital infrastructure construction, promoting technology integration and application, improving the green finance system, alleviating corporate financing constraints, incentivizing green technological innovation, enhancing technology-driven effects, implementing classified policies, optimizing policy precision, optimizing corporate resource allocation, and enhancing endogenous transformation momentum. We aim to drive the coordinated development of corporate digitalization and green transformation, thereby supporting high-quality economic growth and the achievement of the dual carbon goals.

국문 초록 (Abstract)

전 세계 기후 변화 문제가 점점 심각해짐에 따라 환경 규제 정책은 각국이 녹색 경제 발전의 길을 실천하는 중요한 전략 중 하나가 되었다. 중국은 '이중 탄소' 목표를 제시하며, 탄소 배출권 거래 등 경제 수단을 활용하여 기업 행동을 유도하고 디지털 전환과 녹색 발전의 협력 발전을 실현한다고 지적했다. 환경 규제는 기업이 탄소 비용 압박에 대응하고 저탄소 혁신을 장려하는 데 영향을 미치는 요인 중 하나로, 기업의 기술 연구 개발과 디지털 지속 가능한 발전 전략에 깊은 영향을 미친다. 따라서 환경 규제, 디지털 전환 및 녹색 발전 간의 상호작용 메커니즘을 연구하는 것은 규제 경제학과 녹색 발전 이론을 심화하는 데 큰 의미가 있으며, '이중 탄소' 정책 수립과 시행에 효과적인 지침을 제공할 수 있다.
본문은 2001-2024년 중국 A주 상장 기업의 패널 데이터를 연구 샘플로 삼아, 이중 차분 방법을 사용하여 탄소 배출권 거래 시범 정책이 기업의 디지털 전환에 미치는 영향 메커니즘과 녹색 발전에 미치는 영향을 체계적으로 분석했다. 연구는 기업의 디지털 전환 수준(DLTN)을 설명 변수로 하고 교차항(did)을 핵심 설명 변수로 하는 이중 차분 모델을 구축했으며, 중개 효과 모델을 설계하여 자금 조달 제약과 녹색 발전의 전달 역할을 검증했다. 병행추세검정, 위약검정 등 건전성 시험과 기업특성 및 지배구조에 기반한 이질성 분석을 통해 탄소배출권 거래 시범정책이 기업의 디지털 전환을 크게 촉진하고 교차항 계수가 0.231로 1% 수준에서 유의하며 정책 효과는 기업 유형에 따라 크게 다르며 민간 기업과 비양직 통합 기업의 반응이 더 적극적이고 녹색 발전은 환경 규제와 디지털 전환 사이의 일부 중개 역할을 하며 정책은 녹색 기술 혁신을 장려하여 디지털화 과정을 간접적으로 촉진한다. 실증 결과를 바탕으로 본문은 디지털 인프라 건설을 강화하고, 기술 융합 응용을 촉진하며, 녹색 금융 시스템을 완비하고, 기업의 자금 조달 제약을 완화하고, 녹색 기술 혁신을 장려하며, 기술 주도 효과를 강화하고, 분류별 정책을 시행하며, 정책의 정확성을 최적화하고, 기업 자원 배치를 최적화하며, 전환의 내재적 동력을 향상시키는 등의 정책 제안을 제시했다. 기업의 디지털화와 녹색화의 협력 발전을 촉진하여 경제의 고품질 발전과 '이중 탄소' 목표 달성을 돕기를 기대한다.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 1. Introduction 1
• 1.1 Background and Significance of the Research 1
• 1.1.1 Research Background 1
• 1.1.2 Research Significance 4
• 1.2 Research Overview 6
• 1.2.1 Research on Environmental Regulation 6
• 1.2.1.1 Current Status of Foreign Research 6
• 1.2.1.2 Current Status of Domestic Research 8
• 1.2.2 Research on Enterprise Digital Transformation 11
• 1.2.2.1 Current Status of Foreign Research 11
• 1.2.2.2 Current Status of Domestic Research 13
• 1.2.3 Research on Green Development of Enterprises 18
• 1.2.3.1 Current Status of Foreign Research 18
• 1.2.3.2 Current Status of Domestic Research 20
• 1.2.4 Research on the Relationship between Environmental Regulation, Digital Transformation and Green Development of Enterprises 24
• 1.2.4.1 Current Status of Foreign Research 24
• 1.2.4.2 Current Status of Domestic Research 26
• 1.2.5 Literature Review 31
• 1.3 Research Content and Methods 32
• 1.3.1 Research Content 32
• 1.3.2 Research Methods 34
• 1.4 Innovations and Limitations 35
• 1.4.1 Innovations 35
• 1.4.2 Limitations of the research 36
• 2. Related Concepts and Basic Theories 38
• 2.1 Relevant Concepts 38
• 2.1.1 Environmental Regulations 38
• 2.1.2 Digital Transformation 39
• 2.1.3 Green Development 39
• 2.2 Basic Theory 40
• 2.2.1 Theories of Sustainable Development 40
• 2.2.2 Green Development Theory 41
• 2.2.3 Theories of Low-Carbon Economy 42
• 2.2.4 Regulation Economics Theory 43
• 3. Mechanism Analysis of the Impact of Environmental Regulation on Enterprise Digital Transformation 45
• 3.1 Direct Mechanism of Environmental Regulation on Enterprise Digital Transformation 45
• 3.2 The Indirect Mechanism of Environmental Regulation on Enterprise Digital Transformation 46
• 3.2.1 The Impact of Environmental Regulation on Enterprise Digital Transformation through Green Development 46
• 3.2.2 Impact of Environmental Regulation on Enterprise Digital Transformation through Financing Constraints 47
• 4. Enterprise Digital Transformation and Green Development Measurement and Characteristics 49
• 4.1 Current Status of Digital Transformation 49
• 4.1.1 Calculation Method 49
• 4.1.2 Analysis of the Calculation Results 50
• 4.2 Current Status of Green Development in the Manufacturing Industry 53
• 4.2.1 Calculation Methods 53
• 4.2.2 Analysis of the Calculation Results 54
• 5. STUDY DESIGN 57
• 5.1 Data Sources and Processing 57
• 5.2 Variable Selection and Interpretation 58
• 5.2.1 Dependent Variable 59
• 5.2.2 Core explanatory variables 59
• 5.2.3 Control variables 60
• 5.2.4 Mediating Variables 62
• 5.2.5 Adjusting Variables 63
• 5.3 Model Construction 63
• 5.3.1 Benchmark Regression Model 63
• 5.3.2 The Model of Intermediary Effect 65
• 6. Empirical Results and Analysis 67
• 6.1 Descriptive Statistical Analysis 67
• 6.2 Relevance Analysis 69
• 6.3 Collinearity Diagnosis 70
• 6.4 Regression Analysis 72
• 6.4.1 Benchmark Regression Based on Environmental Regulation Policy 72
• 6.4.2 Double Difference Based on the Net Effect of Pilot Policies 75
• 6.5 Robustness Analysis 77
• 6.5.1 Parallel trend test 77
• 6.5.2 Placebo Testing 79
• 6.5.3 Replace the dependent variable 81
• 6.5.4 Change the time window width 82
• 6.6 Heterogeneity Analysis 84
• 6.6.1 Heterogeneity Based on Enterprise Nature 84
• 6.6.2 Heterogeneity Based on the Integration of Two Roles 86
• 6.7 Testing of the Intermediary Mechanism 88
• 6.7.1 The Mediating Effect Based on Green Development 88
• 6.7.2 Intermediary Effect Based on Financing Constraints 90
• 6.8 Testing for the Adjustment Effect 92
• 7. China and South Korea environmental regulation, digital level and green development comparative analysis 95
• 7.1 Comparison of China and South Korea carbon markets 95
• 7.2 Comparison of China and South Korea's digitalization levels 97
• 7.3 Comparison of green development levels between China and South Korea 99
• 8. Conclusion and Policy Recommendations 102
• 8.1 Research Conclusions 102
• 8.2 Policy Recommendations 105
• 8.2.1 Strengthening digital infrastructure development and promoting the integration and application of technologies 105
• 8.2.2 Improve the green finance system and ease the financing constraints of enterprises 107
• 8.2.3 Encourage green technology innovation and enhance the technology-driven effect 108
• 8.2.4 Implementing differentiated policies to enhance policy precision 109
• 8.2.5 Optimize enterprise resource allocation and enhance the internal driving force for transformation 110
• References 113
• 국문요지 124