The Impact of Market-Incentivized Environmental Regulation on Green Innovation in Energy Enterprises

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the “dual carbon” goals and the green transformation of the energy industry, whether market-incentivized environmental regulation can effectively promote green innovation in energy enterprises has become a key issue. This paper takes listed energy companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share markets from 2012 to 2022 as the sample, and based on data such as pollutant discharge fee amounts, empirically examines the impact of market-incentivized environmental regulation on green innovation in energy enterprises and its regional heterogeneity. The findings reveal that market-incentivized environmental regulation significantly promotes green innovation in energy enterprises overall, verifying the applicability of the Porter Hypothesis in the energy industry. This promotional effect is significant in non-coastal regions but not significant in coastal regions, reflecting differences in regional economic development stages, market maturity, and policy coordination capabilities. Accordingly, this paper proposes policy recommendations including regionally differentiated policy design, strengthening foundational support in non-coastal areas, and deepening market mechanism coordination in coastal areas, providing empirical evidence and policy references for optimizing environmental regulation policies and promoting the green transformation of energy enterprises.