Research On The Impact Of Corporate Green Innovation On Stock Returns

With the continuous deterioration of global warming and natural environment,and the continuous improvement of environmental awareness of people around the world,low-carbon development and green development have become the demands of The Times.How to ensure steady economic growth while taking into account the protection of ecological environment has become an important issue.Enterprise is regarded as a basic source of innovation and knowledge creation,at the same time,the stock market as an economic "barometer",stock earnings performance is manifested intuitively,in the development of macro economy and the green innovation activities whether can let the enterprise get more gains in the stock market,the enterprise itself and the society as a whole has important significance in the current background.This paper takes 4,745 listed companies from 2011 to 2021 as the research object,measures corporate green innovation by the number of green patents granted,measures corporate stock returns by considering the annual rate of return of individual shares reinvested in cash dividends,and conducts an empirical study on whether enterprises can obtain higher returns in the stock market through green innovation.The empirical results show that,first,enterprises’ green innovation behavior can be recognized by the market and obtain higher returns in the stock market.However,when the measurement standard of corporate green innovation is changed to the number of green patent applications,the correlation coefficient decreases and the incentive of corporate green innovation on stock returns is reduced.Second,corporate reputation and operation capability play a part of the intermediary effect in the influence of corporate green innovation on stock returns.Enterprises can obtain better stock returns by changing corporate reputation and operation capability through green innovation behavior.Thirdly,from the perspective of heterogeneity analysis of different patent categories,green utility model patents are easier to be recognized by the market so that enterprises can obtain better stock returns.In the eastern region,enterprises in areas with better intellectual property protection,and enterprises in growth and decline,green innovation has a more obvious promoting effect on stock returns of enterprises.The research of this paper has important practical significance under the background of the increasing contradiction between economic growth and ecological environment deterioration.The positive relationship between green innovation and corporate stock returns indicates that both economic and social benefits can be achieved through green innovation.Therefore,the government should make corresponding policies to encourage enterprises to carry out green innovation activities.On the other hand,enterprises should take a long-term view and not only see the negative impact of green innovation on enterprise performance in the short term.