Planning a clean future: energy policy communication and energy technology innovation

With the advancement of digital government platforms worldwide, an increasing number of governments are enhancing energy policy communication (EPC) with market participants via official portals, aiming to stimulate their vitality to promote energy reform. Despite the increasing importance and impact of EPC, our grasp of its economic effects is still limited. Based on the revised TOE theoretical framework, we empirically examine the innovation incentive effect of EPC using Chinese A-share listed company data from 2008 to 2023 as well as provincial data. Our findings reveal that EPC significantly promotes enterprise energy technology innovation (ETI) through multi-dimensional paths of technology launch, organization exploitation, and ecology empowerment. Specifically, a 1 % increase in the intensity of local governments' EPC, the transformation of enterprises' ETI achievements increased by 0.046 %, and the probability of engaging in ETI increased by 1.01 %. Moreover, the effect of EPC is asymmetric. It is more pronounced in regions with high levels of green finance, active official WeChat energy accounts, and in central and western provinces. The effect is also stronger for large firms and those facing severe financing constraints. Further analysis indicates that interpret-based and inquire-based communication styles within EPC help mitigate the adverse impacts of market uncertainty, climate policy uncertainty, and their combined effect on enterprise-level ETI. This study contributes valuable theoretical and policy insights into clarifying EPC's strategic direction, improving its efficiency, and supporting the broader goal of energy transition.