Effects of environmental information disclosure on the green development of mining industry: Evidence from Chinese provincial mining sub-sectors

How environmental information disclosure (EID) affects green transformation of mining industry (MI) is still unknown. Based on the panel data of China's provincial mining sub-sectors, this study explores the effects of EID on the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of China's mining sub-sectors and its influence mechanism. The research shows that EID exerts an inverted U-shaped influence on the GTFP growth of MI, implying that reasonable EID facilitates the green transformation of China's MI, while excessively EID requirements may be counterproductive. The above conclusion still holds after considering the endogeneity and conducting a series of robustness tests. Further analysis shows that the impact of EID on the GTFP of MI has a lag and long-term, and the current EID affects its future GTFP. Meanwhile, EID has a more remarkable effect on the GTFP of the MI in the eastern and central regions and the mining and washing of coal (S3) and extraction of petroleum and natural gas (S4). Mechanism analysis reveals that EID affects the GTFP of the MI through technological innovation, but due to the ‘black expected effect’, EID is still unable to increase the GTFP of the MI through energy structure. This study provides important insights for the government to fully leverage the positive role of social supervision in promoting the green development of heavy polluting industries such as MI.