ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Economics and Management
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1572134
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Carbon Reduction and Pollution Control Policies Management: Theoretical, Application, and Future ImpactsView all 42 articles
Can Green Credit Policy Promote Greener Manufacturing? Empirical Evidence from Enterprises' Carbon Emission Intensity
Provisionally accepted
- 1Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China
- 2Zhejiang Yuexiu University of Foreign Languages, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China
- 3Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian, China
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This study empirically examines whether green credit policies (GCP) can significantly reduce carbon emission intensity in manufacturing enterprises. Using a difference-in-differences model, we analyze data from listed enterprises spanning 2008-2023 and employ the Green Credit Guidelines issued in 2012 as a quasi-natural experiment. Our findings reveal that: (1) The GCP significantly reduces enterprises' carbon emission intensity; (2) The impact of green credit on carbon reduction operates through both macro-and micro-level mechanisms. At the macro level, it facilitates industrial structure upgrading and energy efficiency improvements. At the micro level, it enhances ESG performance and reduces inefficient investments, thereby lowering carbon intensity; (3) The effectiveness of green credit in reducing corporate carbon emissions varies across enterprises and regions. Enterprises characterized by high social responsibility, low financing constraints, and low financial distress experience stronger reductions in carbon intensity. Additionally, regions with strict environmental regulations and advanced financial development are more responsive to GCP, suggesting that targeted implementation in these areas would yield a better result. These findings offer important theoretical and practical insights, highlighting the policy effectiveness of green credit and its potential to accelerate sustainable economic transitions.
Keywords: Green credit policy, enterprise carbon emission intensity, Industrial structure upgrading, energy efficiency, Difference-in-differences model
Received: 06 Feb 2025; Accepted: 12 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Li and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jianxiang Wang, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian, China
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