The Impact Of Green Credit Policy On Green Technology Innovation

Addressing the relationship between development and the environment is the core issue for China’s high-quality economic development.Green technology innovation has proved to be an important measure to coordinate pollution prevention,climate change and economic development.However,it is a kind of investment activity with high input,high risk and double externalities,so it needs clear policy support with clear incentives and constraints.Bank loans have an important impact on the investment activities of enterprises.Especially in the current context of China’s attempts to develop green credit to promote green development,bank credit departments should make "differential,dynamic credit" and take into account its environmental protection situation,which plays an important role in guiding enterprises to make green technology innovation decisions.In this context,this thesis empirically examines the measures taken by Chinese enterprises in the face of macro credit policy changes.Specifically,this thesis discusses the impact of green credit policy on enterprises’green technology innovation and its impact on their endogenous motivation for green technology innovation.From the source of environmental pollution,80%of environmental pollution comes from the production and operation activities of industries with high pollution,high energy consumption and overcapacity.In line with the energy conservation and emission reduction strategy,the green credit policy strictly controls credit investment in industries with high energy consumption,high emissions and overcapacity.Theoretically,green credit policy directs the allocation of bank credit resources to form an effective credit constraint on the "Two Highs and One Surplus"industries,thus influencing the green investment behavior of enterprises.However,there is little empirical evidence in the academic literature on the effectiveness of green credit policies in emerging economies.To a certain extent,this lack of empirical evidence leads to doubts about the desirability of green credit policies in developing economies.The "Green Credit Guidelines" provides a good context for testing the impact of China’s credit policy change on green technology innovation.Green technology innovation has many beneficial effects,such as:pollution control,reduce operating costs,expand the enterprise market share,etc.;However,the previous literature on the impact of its impact on the business performance of enterprises has not reached a unanimous conclusion.Some studies believe that green technology innovation will have a crowding out effect on the core business investment.Market recognition determines the internal motivation and sustainability of enterprises’ green technology innovation.Therefore,it is of theoretical significance and practical urgency to investigate how green credit policies affect enterprises’ green technology innovation behavior and their market identity.This thesis is based on the green patent data,and uses the difference-in-difference method to study whether the willingness to innovate green technology is significantly improved by comparing enterprises in the "Two High and One Surplus" industries compared to other enterprises before and after the introduction of the "Green Credit Guidelines".The heterogeneity of the impact of green credit policies on different types of green technology innovation is investigated,considering the characteristics of the green credit system with Chinese characteristics.Finally,from the perspective of market recognition,we investigate the impact of green credit policies on the marginal value of enterprises’ green technological innovation.This thesis draws the following main conclusions.First,compared with other enterprises,the issuance of the Guidelines will help promote green technological innovation in enterprises in "Two High and One Surplus" industries;Second,Based on the cost-benefit principle,enterprises are more likely to alleviate the cost pressure brought about by green credit policies through strategic green technological innovation.Third,the introduction of the Guidelines can help enterprises to gain more competitive advantages in product markets and increase market value.In addition,further research shows that the impact is more pronounced in areas with strong environmental regulation,heavy reliance on external credit funding and low risk-taking willingness.At the same time,the introduction of the Guidelines can lead to structural changes in the R&D innovation of enterprises.The possible innovations in this thesis are mainly the following.First,it expands the scope of research on corporate green technology innovation from a macro credit policy perspective.This thesis enriches the influencing factors of enterprises’ green technology innovation from the level of macroeconomic policy.In addition,the economic consequences of green technology innovation of enterprises are still controversial in terms of "positive effect" and"negative effect".This thesis provides empirical evidence on the "positive effect perception" of enterprises’ green technology innovation in the context of green credit policy.Second,the environmental governance mechanism of green credit policy is explored from the perspective of micro-firm green technology innovation.Previous successful practices on green credit policies have mostly focused on empirical evidence from developed economies,and Chinese scholars Cai Haijing et al.(2019)find that there are environmental effects of green credit policies.This thesis providing a micro-action mechanism for the environmental effect of green credit policies in emerging countries.Third,the conclusion of this thesis has clear policy implications.Based on the research framework of "macroeconomic policy and micro-enterprise behavior",it finds that green credit policy has brought about the following benefits to enterprises in "Two Highs and One Surplus" industries by directly influencing bank credit resource allocation.Enterprises will increase investment in green technology innovation at the lowest cost to achieve pollution control at source based on long-term legitimacy and sustainable competitive advantage.Therefore,the findings of this thesis provide relevant policy recommendations for further improving the green credit system and government’s efforts to promote environmental governance,as well as providing references and lessons for enterprises’ green investment and innovation decisions.