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Volume 9,Issue 8

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3 June 2026
Green Finance ‘Ignite’ Corporate Low-Carbon Innovation: An Empirical Test Based on the Incentive Effect
Chenchen Bao ,  Zuxin Ge ,  Yaxuan Tan ,  Jia Guo
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1 School of Economics and Management Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610500, China,
2 School of Foreign Languages, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215006, China,
3 School of Electrical Engineering and Information Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610500, China,
PBES 2026 , 9(4), 136–151; https://doi.org/10.26689/pbes.v9i4.14955
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Abstract

Corporate environmental protection investment serves as a green financial instrument characterized by “endogenous” features. Based on data from A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2010 to 2023, this study examines its impact on green technological innovation and the underlying mechanisms. The findings reveal that environmental protection investment exerts a significant positive incentive effect on corporate green technological innovation, and these conclusions remain robust after controlling for endogeneity. Mechanism tests indicate that financing constraints serve as the core transmission channel: environmental investment alleviates financing constraints through signalling, thereby promoting green innovation, while the R&D investment channel is not significant. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that this effect is more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises and high-carbon industries. The study recommends incorporating corporate environmental investment into the green finance policy framework, strengthening information disclosure, and stimulating the endogenous momentum of corporate green transformation.

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