国家碳承诺能否推动企业碳承诺?

Can China′s national carbon commitment promote corporate carbon commitments?

推进碳达峰、碳中和是中国为应对气候变化对国际社会做出的承诺,但实现碳达峰、碳中和是一场广泛而深刻的经济社会系统性变革,需要从国家顶层设计逐渐落实到企业实质性要求,因此探讨国家碳承诺能否推动企业碳承诺,找到中国碳承诺实现路径具有重要意义。该研究基于2017—2022年中国沪深A股上市企业面板数据,以2020年中国提出碳达峰、碳中和承诺作为准自然实验,采用双重差分模型研究国家碳承诺对企业碳承诺的具体影响,并在此基础上构建3重差分模型以剖析地方碳承诺与市场碳承诺的作用机制。结果表明:①国家碳承诺能够推动企业碳承诺,此结果在考虑内生性问题与多种稳健性检验后仍然成立。②国家碳承诺通过促进地方碳承诺与市场碳承诺直接推动企业碳承诺。一方面对地方施加环境治理压力,由地方监管推动企业碳承诺;另一方面加快市场投融资结构低碳转型,由绿色信贷约束推动企业碳承诺。③媒体关注与绿色创新能够强化国家碳承诺对企业碳承诺的推动作用。媒体关注度高与绿色创新力强的企业会更加积极地做出碳承诺,向社会公众彰显企业可持续发展能力,提升企业竞争力。④相比碳承诺完成度低的企业,碳承诺完成度高的企业往往会做出相对保守的碳承诺,并且得到科学认证的企业碳承诺会更加合理。因此在国家碳承诺引领下,鼓励企业积极做出碳承诺,以言语约束行为,在满足政策合法性要求的同时,获得更多的资源供给,为早日实现中国碳达峰、碳中和承诺作出贡献。

Promoting the achievement of the goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality(‘dual carbon’goals)is China′s commitment to the international community in response to climate change.But achieving the‘dual carbon’goals marks a systemic economic and social change that is broad and profound,requiring gradual implementation carried out by national top-level design to meet enterprises′substantive requirements.Therefore,it is of great significance to explore whether China′s national carbon commitment can promote corporate carbon commitments and to identify a path to realize this national carbon commitment.Based on the panel data of Chinese A-share listed firms in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2017 to 2022,this paper took China′s commitment to achieving the‘dual carbon’goals proposed in 2020 as a quasi-natural experiment and used the difference-in-differences model to study the specific impact of the national carbon commitment on corporate carbon commitments.On this basis,a difference-in-difference-in-differences model was constructed to analyze the mechanisms of government carbon commitments and market carbon commitment.The results showed that:①China′s national carbon commitment could promote corporate carbon commitments,and this conclusion remained robust after considering endogenous problems and various robustness tests.②The national carbon commitment directly promoted corporate carbon commitments by promoting government carbon commitments and market carbon commitments.On the one hand,it exerted environmental governance pressure on governments,and government regulation promoted corporate carbon commitments.On the other hand,it accelerated the low-carbon transformation of market investment and financing structures,and promoted corporate carbon commitments through green credit constraints.③Media attention and green innovation could strengthen the role of the national carbon commitment in promoting corporate carbon commitments.Firms with high media attention and strong green innovation capabilities were more likely to actively formulate carbon commitments,demonstrate their sustainable development capabilities to the public,and enhance their competitiveness.④Compared to firms with low levels of carbon commitment fulfillment,those with high levels of carbon commitment fulfillment tended to formulate relatively conservative carbon commitments,and scientifically certified firms would be more reasonable in formulating carbon commitments.Therefore,under the guidance of the national carbon commitment,firms are encouraged to actively formulate carbon commitments,use language to constrain behaviors,and obtain more resource supply while meeting policy legitimacy requirements,so as to contribute to the early fulfillment of China′s national commitment to achieving the‘dual carbon’goals.