THE IMPACT OF CORPORATE ESG PERFORMANCE ON URBAN CARBON EMISSIONS
Keywords:
Corporate ESG performance, Urban carbon reduction, Green technological innovation, Sustainable developmentAbstract
With the rapid advancement of urbanization in our country, cities, as the main places for human activities, have always been the focus of the government and all sectors of society for their sustainable and green development. ESG, as a framework for sustainable investment and enterprise management, aligns with China's new development concept of coordinating ecological civilization with economic growth. It helps enterprises enhance their green technological innovation capabilities, thereby promoting the carbon reduction and green transformation of cities. Based on the long-term panel data of A-share listed companies in China from 2011 to 2023, this article deeply explores how the ESG performance of enterprises contributes to urban carbon reduction and the underlying mechanism. The empirical research results show that the improvement of enterprises' ESG performance has a significant positive impact on urban carbon emissions, and this conclusion still holds after the robustness test, further verifying its reliability. The results of the mediating effect indicate that enterprises can significantly enhance the level of green technological innovation by improving ESG performance, thereby reducing urban carbon emissions. The research conclusion of this paper can not only provide an important theoretical basis for the sustainable development of enterprises, but also offer policy inspirations for promoting and building low-carbon and green cities nationwide.References
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