ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Policy and Governance
Aquatic Ecological Civilization in Cities and Green Technological Innovation for Enterprises
Provisionally accepted
- 1Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China
- 2Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China
- 3Qufu Normal University, Qufu, China
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To comprehensively advance the construction of a Beautiful China and achieve harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, the Ministry of Water Resources issued a pilot policy for the development of aquatic ecological civilization cities in 2013, expanding the pilot scope in 2014. This paper investigates whether this policy can promote green technological innovation in enterprises and explores the underlying mechanisms. Utilizing green patent data from listed Chinese enterprises between 2010 and 2018, empirical analysis is conducted through a multi-period difference-in-differences model. The research findings indicate that the construction of aquatic ecological civilization cities significantly enhances green technological innovation among enterprises. Robustness tests confirm the validity of these conclusions. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that that the policy is particularly effective in water pollution intensive industries, state-owned enterprises and eastern regions. Mechanism analysis illustrates that the construction of aquatic ecological civilization cities fosters green technological innovation by reinforcing environmental regulations and alleviating financial constraints on enterprises. The paper recommends a comprehensive implementation of the aquatic ecological civilization city policy, emphasizing enterprise green technological innovation to establish a solid foundation for China's green economic development.
Keywords: Construction of Aquatic Ecological Civilization Cities, Enterprise Financial Constraints, enterprise green technological innovation, Stringency of Environmental Regulations, water-smart food production
Received: 03 Nov 2025; Accepted: 26 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gao, Wang and Zhao. 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: Zenan Wang
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