How Does Export Behavior Affect Firm Environment Performance?

This paper uses the energy consumption and output data of China's manufacturing enterprises for the first time,and uses the measured carbon dioxide emission factor to obtain the CO2 emission intensity(CO2 emissions per unit of output).At the same time,it tries to use the labor productivity of enterprises as the bridge of the research.Combined with the “productivity paradox phenomenon” of Chinese export enterprises,it directly studies the special impact mechanism of Chinese enterprises' export behavior on their environmental performance.This paper builds an econometric model based on the enterprise production function framework,and gradually tests the three hypotheses proposed in the paper.The results show that:(1)Export behavior causes a significant increase in the carbon dioxide emission intensity of Chinese enterprises,and at the same time,as the export density of enterprises increases,the emission intensity also increases.Export behavior has not promoted cleanliness.The conclusions are relatively stable after considering the different production function forms and “self-selection bias”.(2)Chinese export enterprises have lower production efficiency as unit output of them requires more energy input,which in turn leads to higher carbon intensity.(3)The low efficiency and low rate of addition(low profit margin)of export enterprises further dragged down the technological upgrading and environmental protection investment of enterprises,which is an important reason for the more pollution caused by exports.The research in this paper makes up for the gap of research between trade and carbon emissions at China's micro-enterprise level,and gives guidance on strategies of pollution control and emission reduction at the micro level.It confirms that in the process of international trade,not only should macroeconomic goals and the overall national emission reduction awareness should be improved,but also necessary to directly focus on encouraging micro-enterprises innovation,especially to find a way to lead export enterprises to improve their labor productivity,thereby promoting the sustainable development of the economy and society.