环境规制、数字技术与高耗能制造企业绿色转型——基于用能权交易试点企业的证据

Environmental regulation,digital technology and green transition of high energy-use manufacturing enterprises:Evidence from pilot enterprises of energy-use right trading scheme

随着数字技术与企业生产的深度融合,用能权交易作为一项环境规制政策,能否促进高耗能制造企业绿色转型,其作用机理如何仍有待研究。基于问卷调查,使用中介效应和门槛回归模型考察用能权交易对高耗能制造企业绿色转型的影响和作用机理。结果表明:用能权交易显著促进了试点企业绿色转型,数字技术发挥了正向中介作用;数字技术具有门槛效应,只有当其高于门槛值时才能显著促进高耗能制造企业绿色转型。异质性分析表明用能权交易显著促进了非国有企业和大企业绿色转型。据此提出应继续完善用能权交易,健全相关信息披露和履约监管制度,增加政府财税扶持,健全数字化基础设施,鼓励企业加强对数字技术的应用,针对不同企业施策等建议。

As China’s economy shifts from high-speed growth to high-quality development,the traditional and extensive model of development is no longer sustainable.The report of the 20th CPC National Congress pointed out that we should promote the green transformation of production methods and steadily promote carbon peak and carbon neutrality.As an important part of the manufacturing industry,the green transformation of high energy-use manufacturing is of great strategic significance for promoting the construction of ecological civilization,realizing the goal of“double-carbon”,and building a manufacturing powerful nation.To promote the green development of the high energy-use manufacturing industry,China has taken a series of policy measures.In 2016,China decided to carry out a pilot system of energy-use right trading in Henan,Zhejiang,Fujian and Sichuan,including high energy-use industries in the trading scope,in order to promote the efficient transformation of energy-intensive manufacturing and green and low-carbon development through market-oriented means.At the same time,with the rapid development of the digital economy,digital technology has promoted the acceleration of information transmission,the enhancement of knowledge spillover and the improvement of research and development collaboration,and has become an important engine to promote the green transformation of the economy.As an important environmental regulation policy,energy-use right trading scheme enables digital technology deeply integrated with enterprise production,relying on digital technology to allocate energy elements among enterprises reasonably and effectively,encourage the enterprises to change production mode,enhance scale economies effect in manufacturing industry and network effects of labor division,promote innovation ability and green transformation of high energy-use firms.However,the current cognitive competence and participation status of high energy-use manufacturing enterprises in energy-use right trading are unclear,and whether energy-use right trading can promote the green transformation of high energy-use manufacturing enterprises under the backdrop of digital technology,as well as its mechanism,still require further exploration.Therefore,focusing on high energy-use manufacturing enterprises and employing a questionnaire survey method,this paper aims at constructing a green transformation index based on the entropy weight method.This paper probes into economy,environment,quality,as well as digital technology index which includes digital production processes,digital infrastructure,and digital R&D services.The intermediary effect and the threshold regression model are used to investigate the influence and mechanism of the energy-use right trading scheme on the green transformation of high energy-use manufacturing enterprises.The research findings indicate:firstly,the scheme significantly promotes the green transition of pilot enterprises;secondly,improvements in the quota allocation of energy-use right trading and trading methods,and the refinement of accompanying fiscal policies promote green transformation of enterprises;thirdly,digital technology plays a positive intermediary role in promoting the green transformation process of enterprises through energy-use right trading;fourthly,as digital technology has the threshold effect,when the digital technology is below the threshold,it cannot promote green transformation of high energy-use manufacturing enterprises,but when surpassing the threshold,it promotes green transformation of enterprises;fifthly,the energy-use right trading scheme significantly promotes the green transition of non-state-owned enterprises and large enterprises.Based on the above findings,the following countermeasures are proposed:first,improve the allocation of energy-use right trading quotas and trading methods,and improve the relevant information disclosure and performance supervision system;secondly,improve relevant supporting policies and increase financial and tax support from government;thirdly,improve the digital infrastructure and encourage enterprises to strengthen the application of digital technology;fourth,formulate appropriate policy measures for different types of enterprises.The contributions or innovations of the paper are as follows.First,this paper examines the impact and channels of energy-use right trading on the green transformation of high energy-use manufacturing enterprises from the perspective of digital technology.In terms of the research perspective,although the established literature examines the energy saving and emission reduction effects of energy-use right trading and its impact on green technology,a few papers comprehensively measure the green transformation from the economic,environmental and quality dimensions,so there is a lack of literature examining the impact of energy-use right trading on the green transformation from the perspective of digital technology.Secondly,this paper makes up for the shortcomings of the existing literature.As for the research object,the existing literature focuses on the industrial industry,but in practice,energy-use right trading mainly targets high energy-use industries and key energy-using units,and there is a lack of literature in the related fields.Finally,based on the survey data,this paper examines the practice and impact of energy-use right trading,which complements the existing related studies.In terms of research data,existing studies focus on the provincial and municipal levels,and the examination of enterprises mostly uses the data of listed companies,which lacks first-hand information for the enterprises participating in energy-use rights trading.