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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Economics and Management
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1519258
This article is part of the Research Topic Advancing Carbon Reduction and Pollution Control Policies Management: Theoretical, Application, and Future Impacts View all 10 articles

Does enterprise green innovation contribute to the carbon emission reduction? Evidence from China

Provisionally accepted
Jiajin Xie Jiajin Xie Yindan Wang Yindan Wang *
  • Hunan Police Academy, Changsha, China

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

    Green innovation serves as a driving force for enterprises to enhance their competitiveness and may offer an effective pathway for reducing carbon emissions.This study, using data on green innovation and carbon emissions from publicly listed companies between 2000 and 2022, examines the impact of green innovation on enterprise carbon emissions and its specific transmission channels. The findings reveal that:(1)Green innovation significantly reduces enterprise carbon emissions, and this inhibitory effect remains robust across a series of stability tests.(2)Mechanistically, green innovation primarily decreases carbon emissions through improvements in energy efficiency and the specialization of enterprise management.(3)Compared to the application for green utility model patents, green innovation through the application for green invention patents is more effective in reducing enterprise carbon emissions. The carbon emission reduction effect of green innovation is found to be more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises compared to state-owned enterprises. Furthermore, when comparing the pollution intensity and technological complexity of industries, the suppressive effect of green innovation on carbon emissions is stronger for enterprises operating in highly polluting and technologically complex industries. The findings of this study provide empirical evidence to support the promotion of green innovation for facilitating the green and low-carbon transition of manufacturing enterprises in developing countries.

    Keywords: green innovation, carbon emission, energy efficiency, specialization of enterprise management, sustainable development

    Received: 30 Oct 2024; Accepted: 25 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Xie and Wang. 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: Yindan Wang, Hunan Police Academy, Changsha, 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.