Carbon dioxide emission reduction and low-carbon economy have become a global consensus and general trend.Facing the global warming and international emission reduction pressure,China adheres to the green development path and actively responds to climate change and makes the commitment of“carbon peak”by 2030 and“carbon neutral”by 2060.At the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee,China promoted green development as one of the five major concepts guiding China’s development for a long time,and emphasized“adhering to green development and promoting the construction of a beautiful China”.At the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee,China further proposed“promoting green development and promoting the harmonious coexistence of man and nature”.In order to give full play to the role of market mechanisms in coping with climate change and promoting green and low-carbon development,China officially approved Beijing,Shanghai,Tianjin,Chongqing,Hubei,Guangdong,and Shenzhen to conduct pilot of Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme(ETS)in 2011.ETS is a major institutional innovation that uses market means to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote green development.It can achieve carbon emissions reduction with low cost and high efficiency,and may become a new engine to drive China’s green development.In fact,the connotation of green development is to promote the sustainable development of economic,environmental,technological and social systems.As an important measure to promote green development,the ETS may also produce green development effects in the four systems of economy,environment,technology and society.Thus,focusing on the four systems of green development,this paper puts forward four key scientific questions:in terms of economy,has China’s ETS policy improved corporate financial performance?In terms of environment,has China’s ETS policy improved air pollution?In terms of technology,has China’s ETS policy promoted the non-fossil energy development?Finally,in terms of society,has China’s ETS policy reduced poverty and improved people’s living standards?Hence,this paper examines the impact of China’s ETS policy on corporate financial performance,air pollution,non-fossil energy development and ecological poverty reduction from the four systems of green development:economy,environment,technology and society.The main research work and results of this paper are as follows.First,based on the panel data of the listed enterprises in the seven high energy-consuming industries in China during 2010~2017,this paper uses the PSM-DID model to explore the impact of China’s ETS policy on corporate financial performance.We find that China’s ETS has no significant impact on the overall financial performance of high energy-consuming enterprises,but the impact of ETS on enterprises’financial performance presents obvious industrial heterogeneity.ETS reduces the financial performance of enterprises in the nonferrous metal industry but improves that in the power industry,and with the implementation of ETS,these effects are increasingly intensifying.There is a lag on the impact of ETS on enterprises’financial performance in the chemical,paper and aviation industries,indicating that ETS can hardly ensure that all enterprises are profitable in the short term,but there is still the possibility of profitability in the long term.Second,this paper uses the PM2.5 satellite grid data of 287 cities in China from January 2005 to December 2017,and uses the DID model to systematically study the impact of China’s ETS policy on air pollution control.We find that China’s ETS has reduced PM2.5 concentrations by 4.8%,and this reduction effect is strongest in summer.The ETS pilots have positive spillovers on neighboring non-pilot cities within 300 km of the pilot cites,especially for those downwind neighboring non-pilot cities.The ETS’s co-benefits are primarily a result of enterprises adopting abatement activities and adjusting industrial structure.The co-benefits of China’s ETS pilots are greater in regions with larger carbon trading volume and higher carbon trading price.Third,this paper uses China’s provincial monthly panel data from January 2004to December 2019 and DID model to study the impact of China’s ETS policy on the non-fossil energy development.We find that the ETS has significantly promoted non-fossil energy development in China,increasing the monthly average share of non-fossil energy power generation in total power generation by 2.326 percentage points.The ETS has significantly increased the share of hydropower and photovoltaic power generation,and has significantly promoted non-fossil energy development in Guangdong;meanwhile,the ETS has significantly increased the share of hydropower and nuclear power in Guangdong,and the share of wind power and photovoltaic power in Hubei.The higher the carbon price,the greater the role of the ETS in promoting non-fossil energy development.Finally,based on the data of 1782 counties in China from 2006 to 2017 and the DID model,this paper studies the impact of CCER trading on ecological poverty reduction.We find that the CCER trading has achieved remarkable results in reducing poverty,and the per capita net income of rural residents has increased by 187.5 yuan per year.Compared with non-poor counties,CCER trading has significantly increased the per capita net income of rural residents in national poor counties.CCER trading for hydropower and wind power projects has significantly increased the per capita net income of rural residents in the counties where the projects are located.The greater the number of CCER projects in the counties,the greater the poverty reduction effect.CCER trading has a greater effect on poverty reduction in the western and central regions.We do not find that the poverty reduction effect of the CCER trading will vary with the vary of the project’s carbon emission reduction scale.Compared with the implementation of the CCER project,the trading of the CCER project has brought a more significant poverty reduction effect.Overall,this paper focuses on the green development effect of China’s ETS policy,and evaluates the effect and impact mechanism of ETS policy on financial performance,air pollution control,non-fossil energy development and ecological poverty reduction based on the four key systems of green development:economy,environment,technology and society.It is found that the economic effect of China’s ETS policy is still uncertain,but there are positive environmental effects,technological effects and social effects.On this basis,the paper puts forward policy suggestions to improve carbon emission reduction and ETS policy,which expands the depth and breadth of research on the effects of ETS. |