末端治理还是绿色转型?--绿色信贷对重污染行业企业环保投资的影响研究

End-of-Pipe Treatment or Green Transformation?——The Impact of Green Credit on Environmental Protection Investment Enterprises in Heavy Polluting Industries

对重污染行业企业而言,绿色信贷政策不仅有限制其扩张落后产能的功能,还有支持其绿色转型的功能。然而,当前对绿色信贷政策微观效果的研究主要集中在绿色信贷抑制重污染行业企业落后产能扩张方面,对绿色信贷是否引导重污染行业企业绿色转型缺乏关注。本文从企业环保投资角度探讨了绿色信贷引导重污染行业企业绿色转型的效果及其作用机制。研究发现,绿色信贷有助于提升重污染行业企业绿色转型投资水平,但对其末端治理投资并无显著影响,体现了绿色信贷政策对企业资金投向的“引导效应”。进一步研究发现,绿色信贷对企业绿色转型投资的促进作用在绿色金融发展水平高的地区、市场竞争程度低的行业和国有企业更显著。增加借款规模是绿色信贷影响企业绿色转型投资的重要途径,绿色信贷无法通过降低借款成本和改善借款期限结构促进企业绿色转型。本文的发现为全面理解绿色信贷政策微观效果提供了新的证据,为实施绿色发展战略、完善绿色信贷政策提供了参考。

As far as enterprises in heavy polluting industries are concerned,the green credit policy not only restricts their outdated production capacity expansion but also supports their green transformation.However,the present research mainly focuses on the aspect that green credit restrains the expansion of outdated production capacity in heavy polluting industries,and pays insufficient attention to the fact whether green credit guides the enterprises in heavy polluting industries.Taking the listed companies in heavy polluting industries in Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2013 to 2018 as the research samples,this paper divides their environmental protection investment into green transformation investment and end-of-pipe treatment investment,then tests the effect and mechanism of green credit policy on the green transformation of heavy pollution enterprises.The study finds that green credit policy helps to raise the green transformation investment level of enterprises in heavy pollution industries,but it has no significant impact on their end-of-pipe treatment investment,reflecting the“guiding effect”of green credit policy on the direction of enterprise investment.Further analysis shows that the role of green credit policy in promoting green transformation investment is more significant in areas with high green finance development level,in industries with low degree of market competition and in state-owned enterprises.Additionally,increasing the loan scale is the main way for green credit to affect enterprises’green transformation investment.T he main policy implications are as follows.The design of green credit policy should explore material incentive measures which could decrease the cost of green credit and expand the sources of medium and long term loan funds.The practice of green credit should extend toward the areas with lower level of green finance development,the private enterprises and the high competition industries in the future.