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Towards carbon neutrality: The impact of energy right trading policy on carbon performance of manufacturing enterprises

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  • Wang, Meiling
  • Liu, Zichen
  • Zhou, Bingxuan

Abstract

The energy right trading policy (ERTP) is an important measure for addressing environmental and energy problems. Thus, whether implementing the ERTP can drive manufacturing enterprises to save energy, reduce consumption, and improve their carbon performance urgently needs to be examined. Using China's A-share listed manufacturing companies from 2010 to 2021 as the research sample, this study constructs a difference-in-differences model based on a quasi-natural experiment. The results show that the ERTP helps improve the carbon performance of manufacturing enterprises, and this promoting effect is more obvious in mature and declining enterprises, non-heavily polluting enterprises, and low-growth enterprises. The mechanism test shows that the ERTP can improve the carbon performance of manufacturing enterprises by increasing their innovation level, green investment, and capacity utilization rate. This study provides new empirical evidence for understanding the relationship between the ERTP and carbon performance of manufacturing enterprises.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Meiling & Liu, Zichen & Zhou, Bingxuan, 2025. "Towards carbon neutrality: The impact of energy right trading policy on carbon performance of manufacturing enterprises," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:323:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225015002
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.135858
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