| Climate change has a far-reaching impact on the global ecosystem,human beings,economy and society.It has become a global consensus to actively respond to climate change and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.As a developing country,China is the world’s second largest economy and the largest carbon emitter.It faces the dual goals of energy conservation and emission reduction and achieving high-quality development with steady growth.Especially in the current COVID-19 influence,trade disputes between China and the United States and the risk of global economic recession,China’s government is facing greater pressure of emission reduction and steady growth.As a market-oriented emission reduction mechanism,Carbon emissions trading scheme(ETS)will play an important role in the realization of China’s carbon peak and carbon neutralization goal.The construction of carbon market is also of great practical significance for China to form a "administration +market" two pronged carbon emission reduction system.High-carbon enterprises are not only the basic unit of national economic development,but also the direct object of ETS.Fully discussing the impact of China’s ETS on the investment of high-carbon enterprises has important practical significance for evaluating the impact of ETS on economic development,exploring the micro level mechanism of ETS and the construction and improvement of China’s national carbon m arket.In order to establish a market-oriented carbon emission reduction mechanism and gradually build the national carbon market,the Chinese government began t o launch the pilot projects of ETS in seven provinces and cities(Beijing,Shanghai,Tianjin,Chongqing,Hubei,Guangdong and Shenzhen)at the end of 2011.As an external environmental regulation policy,ETS can internalize the external emission reduction cost of enterprises in a way of marketization and optimal overall social cost,forcing high-carbon enterprises to reduce emissions.This will obviously increase production and operation costs of enterprises,change the external operation and development environment of enterprises,thus affecting the operation and development and investment decision-making of enterprises,and further affect the national economy development.Under the dual pressure of energy conservation and emission reduction,and stable growth,it is very important to scientifically evaluate the impact of ETS on high-carbon enterprises from the perspective of investment and development for improving the carbon trading system and correctly handling the relationship between national carbon market construction,enterprise d evelopment and economic growth.Therefore,focusing on how the ETS affects the investment of high-carbon enterprises,this paper focuses on solving the following four key problems : first,how does China’s ETS affect the investment expenditure of high-carbon enterprises? Second,how does China’s ETS affect the investment efficiency of high-carbon enterprises? Third,how does China’s ETS affect the ability of high-carbon enterprises to obtain investment funds(financing)? Fourth,how does China’s ETS affect t he investment willingness and opportunities(market power)of high-carbon enterprises? Therefore,this paper examines the direct effect of China’s ETS on investment from the perspectives of investment expenditure and investment efficiency,and the impact m echanism of China’s ETS on the investment of high-carbon enterprises from the perspectives of investment ability and investment opportunities.The main research work and conclusions of this paper are as follows:Firstly,this paper uses the difference-in-differences(DID)and the difference-in-differences based propensity score matching methods(PSM-DID)methods to evaluate the impact of China’s ETS on the investment expenditure level of high-carbon enterprises.The results show that China’s ETS reduces the investment expenditure level of high-carbon enterprises by 0.2449%,and there are industrial,regional heterogeneity and dynamic effects.China’s ETS has reduced the investment expenditure level of enterprises in building materials and steel industries,B eijing and Guangdong province.On the whole,the policy effect of ETS began to appear from the second year of policy implementation,and gradually strengthened with the implementation of the system.Secondly,this paper uses Richardson(2006)expected investment model,DID method and moderating effect model to investigate the impact of China’s ETS on the investment efficiency of high-carbon enterprises.The results show that China’s ETS policy has reduced the inefficient investment level of high-carbon enterprises by11.40%;In the sample of over investment,t he over investment level of high-carbon enterprises decreased by 19.42%;In the sample of underinvestment,the underinvestment level of high-carbon enterprises improved by 11.00%.In the short term,the innovation ability strengthens the inhibitory effect of China’s ETS on inefficient investment of high-carbon enterprises,but in the long term,the innovation ability is weakened in this impact.In terms of heterogeneity,China’s ETS can significantly improve the inefficient investment of non-state-owned high-carbon enterprises,but it has no obvious impact on state-owned enterprises;The improvement effect of inefficient investment on high-carbon enterprises with more institutional investor is stronger than that with less institutional investor.Thirdly,this paper comprehensively uses DID method,cash-cash flow sensitivity model and financing ability model to reveal the impact of China’s ETS on the financing constraints and debt financing ability of high-carbon enterprises,that is,it discusses the impact of China’s ETS on the investment capital guarantee ability of high-carbon enterprises.The results show that China’s ETS significantly increases the financing constraint level of high-carbon enterprises,and there are heterogeneity in industries,carbon market and enterprise characteristics.China’s ETS has significantly increased the financing constraints of enterprises in chemical and non-ferrous industries;The level of financing constraints for high-carbon enterprises in regions with high carbon price,high transaction scale and high carbon quota has increased significantly;The enhancement of financing constraints has a relatively large impact on non-state-owned enterprises,enterprises with low guara ntee ability and small-scale enterprises.Finally,China’s ETS reduced the long-term debt financing ability of high-carbon enterprises by 0.2352%,but it has not found a significant impact on the short-term debt financing ability.Fourth,this paper comprehensively uses DID and Mediating effect models to explore the impact of China’s ETS on the market power of high-carbon enterprises,that is,it discusses the impact of China’s ETS on the investment willingness and opportunities of high-carbon enterprises.The research shows that China’s ETS pilot policy has reduced the market power level of high-carbon enterprises by about26.99%,and has a negative impact on their market power mainly by reducing the horizontal integration level of high-carbon industry.In terms of heterogeneity,China’s ETS has significantly reduced the market power level of enterprises in petrochemical and chemical industries;The impact on the reduction of the market power level of high-carbon enterprises in the pilot regions of high carbon price and high transaction scale is relatively obvious;The negative impact on the market power of state-owned enterprises,and high financing constraints and large-scale enterprises is relatively significant.In general,this paper focuses on the impact of the ETS on the investment of high-carbon enterprises,and and systematically explores the direct impact of China’s ETS on the investment expenditure and investment efficiency of high-carbon enterprises,and the action mechanism of the two channels fr om financing and market power based on the four key areas of investment expenditure,investment efficiency,investment ability and investment opportunities.Based on the research conclusions,this paper proposes that the government should gradually implement the national carbon market,take the carbon market as a policy tool to regulate the development of high-carbon industries,and implement differentiated ETS according to local conditions,in order to provide reference for the scientific construction of the national carbon market and promoting high-quality development. |
