The Impact Of Carbon Information Disclosure On Corporate Green Innovation Based On A Textual Analysis Of Corporate Social Responsibility Reports

On September 22,2020,General Secretary Xi Jinping stated at the 75th United Nations General Assembly that China will strive to peak its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.This goal not only changes the global process of dealing with climate change,but also brings new opportunities and challenges for business operations.As the main consumer of natural resources and emitter of pollutants,enterprises are the most important group and key actor in responding to climate change.They must actively respond to national policies,accelerate green innovation,and achieve carbon reduction and sustainable development.However,green innovation by enterprises is characterized by long time cycles,high input costs,and information asymmetry,and is therefore limited by financing and internal governance.Against the background of achieving the "dual carbon" goals,timely disclosure of corporate carbon information can effectively reduce information asymmetry among stakeholders,reduce financing constraints,and lower agency costs.Carbon information has become one of the key bottlenecks restricting green innovation by enterprises.Therefore,indepth exploration of the relationship between carbon information disclosure levels and enterprise green innovation has great research value.This article collected 1,111 corporate social responsibility reports from A-share listed companies in China from 2010 to 2021,and used text analysis methods to extract information from the reports.Based on the constructed carbon information disclosure evaluation index system,the carbon information disclosure index(CDI)was quantified,and the current situation of corporate carbon information disclosure levels was analyzed.A multiple linear regression model was used,and the impact of carbon information disclosure on enterprise green innovation was tested based on the number of green patent applications by enterprises.Furthermore,financing constraints and agency costs were introduced as mediating variables,and the mediating effect model was used to verify their transmission role in the process of carbon information disclosure affecting green innovation.The research found that the overall level of corporate carbon information disclosure in China is showing a growth trend,and the improvement of carbon in formation disclosure levels can significantly promote enterprise green innovation.Financing constraints and agency costs play a mediating role,and are the paths through which the level of carbon information disclosure affects enterprise green innovation.Heterogeneous results show that compared with state-owned enterprises,manufacturing enterprises,and enterprises in non-carbon trading market areas,non-state-owned enterprises,non-manufacturing enterprises,and enterprises in carbon trading market areas have more significant improvement in green innovation through carbon information disclosure.In addition,the improvement of corporate carbon information disclosure levels after the outbreak of COVID-19 can promote enterprise green innovation,while the effect of improving carbon information disclosure levels on green innovation before the outbreak of the pandemic was not significant.Therefore,this article believes that under the goal of "peaking carbon dioxide emissions and achieving carbon neutrality," the government should promote standardized carbon information disclosure,strengthen supervision of corporate carbon information disclosure,and enterprises should actively disclose carbon information and embark on the road of green innovation.The innovation of this study is:firstly,a new evaluation index system for measuring corporate carbon information disclosure levels is constructed,and data mining is carried out on this basis to supplement the research on carbon accounting information disclosure that is not yet rich.Secondly,text analysis methods are used to explore carbon information disclosure in corporate social responsibility reports,providing useful references for the combination of econometrics and machine learning research methods.Thirdly,the mediating role of financing constraints and agency costs in the relationship between the two is examined.This article contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationship between carbon information disclosure by enterprises and green innovation,and provides policy recommendations for promoting green innovation in enterprises.