The Impact of Green Credit Guidelines on the Technological Innovation of Heavily Polluting Enterprises: A Quasi-Natural Experiment from China

This study investigates the impact of China’s Green Credit Guidelines on the technological innovations of heavily polluting enterprises. This study uses data obtained from the CSMAR database (2007–2018) and China Marketization Index Report by Province 2018 and uses the Green Credit Guidelines as a quasi-natural experiment. The sample was divided into an experimental group and a control group; the experimental group disclosed environmental and sustainable development information, while the control group did not. This study’s primary finding is that the Green Credit Guidelines can improve the level of technological innovation of heavily polluting enterprises and have a greater impact in areas with high levels of marketization, indicating that the Green Credit Guidelines have a positive effect on the technological innovation of heavily polluting enterprises. This provides China with an experience constructing relevant policies and regulations and provides empirical evidence regarding the technological innovations of heavily polluting enterprises from the perspective of factor market distortions and the Porter hypothesis.