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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Economics and Management
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1484910
This article is part of the Research Topic Sustainable Energy Governance in the Context of Global Climate Change: Technologies, Mechanisms and Strategies View all 11 articles

Impact of China's environmental protection tax on green total factor productivity : Based on the perspective of digital transformation

Provisionally accepted
Jie Zhang Jie Zhang 1Hongyan Hua Hongyan Hua 1Lianfen Yang Lianfen Yang 2*Zhiping Nie Zhiping Nie 1*
  • 1 Business School, Hohai University, Nanjing, China
  • 2 Zhejiang International Studies University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Greening and digital transformation have become the new driving forces of China's economic development. The environmental protection tax (EPT) represents a significant economic measure for environmental protection in China, with the primary objective of safeguarding the environment.Using a 2012-2021 sample of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies and the differencein-differences (DID) method, we empirically investigate the effect of the implementation of China's EPT on green total factor productivity (GTFP) of heavily polluting enterprises. The results show a significant increase in firms' GTFP after the implementation of the tax. A mechanism test reveals that firms' digital transformation has a masking effect, which inhibits the growth of firms' GTFP. Further analyses investigate the variations in effects based on ownership type, firm size, and market concentration. The positive effect is more pronounced for state-owned enterprises, large enterprises, and those operating in highly concentrated markets. This paper provides theoretical support and empirical evidence for the digital transformation and green development of heavily polluting enterprises, the rational optimization of EPT policies, and the promotion of sustainable economic development.

    Keywords: Environmental protection tax, Green total factor productivity, digital transformation, Difference-in-differences model, heavily polluting enterprise ， green development

    Received: 22 Aug 2024; Accepted: 23 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Hua, Yang and Nie. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Lianfen Yang, Zhejiang International Studies University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
    Zhiping Nie, Business School, Hohai University, Nanjing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.