IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v72y2025ics1544612324015411.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Bringing carbon emission reduction to fruition: Insights from city’s low-carbon policy intensity

Author

Listed:
  • Chang, Lulu
  • Fang, Senhui

Abstract

This study exploits new quantitative data to investigate the reduction effect of the city’s low-carbon policy intensity on corporate carbon emissions, revealing the pivotal role of formal carbon regulations. Potential mechanisms are explored from corporate sustainable transformation strategies, and some heterogeneity is presented.

Suggested Citation

  • Chang, Lulu & Fang, Senhui, 2025. "Bringing carbon emission reduction to fruition: Insights from city’s low-carbon policy intensity," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:72:y:2025:i:c:s1544612324015411
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2024.106512
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612324015411
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2024.106512?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maximilian Kotz & Anders Levermann & Leonie Wenz, 2024. "The economic commitment of climate change," Nature, Nature, vol. 628(8008), pages 551-557, April.
    2. Hu, Qianlin & Mijit, Razia & Xu, Jingxuan & Miao, Shan, 2024. "Can government-led urban expansion simultaneously alleviate pollution and carbon emissions? Staggered difference-in-differences evidence from Chinese firms," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1-25.
    3. Azar, José & Duro, Miguel & Kadach, Igor & Ormazabal, Gaizka, 2021. "The Big Three and corporate carbon emissions around the world," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 674-696.
    4. Pan, Xian & Yu, Lihong, 2024. "Do China's pilot emissions trading schemes lead to domestic carbon leakage? Perspective from the firm relocation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    5. Ren, Yi-Shuai & Liu, Pei-Zhi & Klein, Tony & Sheenan, Lisa, 2024. "Does the low-carbon pilot cities policy make a difference to the carbon intensity reduction?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 227-239.
    6. Ahlvik, Lassi & van den Bijgaart, Inge, 2024. "Screening green innovation through carbon pricing," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    7. Gugler, Klaus & Szücs, Florian & Wiedenhofer, Thomas, 2024. "Environmental Policies and directed technological change," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    8. Rodrigo Ad~ao & Michal Koles'ar & Eduardo Morales, 2018. "Shift-Share Designs: Theory and Inference," Papers 1806.07928, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2019.
    9. Bosetti, Valentina & Tavoni, Massimo & Carraro, Carlo, 2009. "Climate Change Mitigation Strategies in Fast-Growing Countries: The Benefits of Early Action," Sustainable Development Papers 52541, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    10. Fan, Zhangmei & Chen, Ying & Mo, Yifan, 2024. "Management myopia and corporate ESG performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    11. Arik Levinson, 2009. "Technology, International Trade, and Pollution from US Manufacturing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(5), pages 2177-2192, December.
    12. Guiso, Luigi & Sapienza, Paola & Zingales, Luigi, 2015. "The value of corporate culture," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 60-76.
    13. Siddique, Md. Abubakar & Nobanee, Haitham & Hasan, Md. Bokhtiar & Uddin, Gazi Salah & Hossain, Md. Naiem & Park, Donghyun, 2023. "How do energy markets react to climate policy uncertainty? Fossil vs. renewable and low-carbon energy assets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    14. Pan, An & Zhang, Wenna & Shi, Xunpeng & Dai, Ling, 2022. "Climate policy and low-carbon innovation: Evidence from low-carbon city pilots in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    15. Rodrigo Adão & Michal Kolesár & Eduardo Morales, 2019. "Shift-Share Designs: Theory and Inference," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(4), pages 1949-2010.
    16. Muhammad Nurul Houqe & Tarek Abdelfattah & Muhammad Kaleem Zahir‐ul‐Hassan & Subhan Ullah, 2024. "Impact of business strategy on carbon emissions: Empirical evidence from U.S. firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(6), pages 5939-5954, September.
    17. Yan Wu & Chunlai Chen & Cong Hu, 2023. "The impacts of trade intensity with China on carbon emissions in belt and road countries," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 558-577, April.
    18. Jacob Moscona & Karthik A Sastry, 2023. "Does Directed Innovation Mitigate Climate Damage? Evidence from U.S. Agriculture," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(2), pages 637-701.
    19. Goulder, Lawrence H. & Long, Xianling & Lu, Jieyi & Morgenstern, Richard D., 2022. "China's unconventional nationwide CO2 emissions trading system: Cost-effectiveness and distributional impacts," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    20. Huang, Wendi, 2023. "Climate policy uncertainty and green innovation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    21. Yan Wu & Chunlai Chen & Cong Hu, 2021. "Does the Belt and Road Initiative Increase the Carbon Emission Intensity of Participating Countries?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 29(3), pages 1-25, May.
    22. Chu, Zhongzhu & Zhang, Qiyuan & Tan, Weijie & Chen, Pengyu, 2024. "Assessing the impact of climate policy stringency on corporate energy innovation: Insights from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    23. Zhi Yu & Yali Cao & Mo Liu, 2022. "Does carbon emission trading policy affect bank loans of firms? Evidence from China," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(18), pages 1709-1714, October.
    24. Maximilian Kotz & Anders Levermann & Leonie Wenz, 2024. "Author Correction: The economic commitment of climate change," Nature, Nature, vol. 631(8020), pages 9-9, July.
    25. Panzone, Luca A. & Ulph, Alistair & Zizzo, Daniel John & Hilton, Denis & Clear, Adrian, 2021. "The impact of environmental recall and carbon taxation on the carbon footprint of supermarket shopping," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    26. Hou, Xiang & Hu, Qianlin & Liang, Xin & Xu, Jingxuan, 2023. "How do low-carbon city pilots affect carbon emissions? Staggered difference in difference evidence from Chinese firms," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 664-686.
    27. Eide, Jan & de Sisternes, Fernando J. & Herzog, Howard J. & Webster, Mort D., 2014. "CO2 emission standards and investment in carbon capture," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 53-65.
    28. Shaojian Chen & Hui Mao & Junqin Sun, 2022. "Low-Carbon City Construction and Corporate Carbon Reduction Performance: Evidence From a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 125-143, September.
    29. Lin, Yangyi & Cheung, Adrian (Wai Kong), 2024. "Climate policy uncertainty and energy transition: Evidence from prefecture-level cities in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    30. Zhao, Qiuyun & Jiang, Mei & Zhao, Zuoxiang & Liu, Fan & Zhou, Li, 2024. "The impact of green innovation on carbon reduction efficiency in China: Evidence from machine learning validation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    31. Chang, Lulu & Fang, Senhui, 2024. "Climate actions and corporate carbon emissions along the supply chain," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    32. Jennie Bai & Hong Ru, 2024. "Carbon Emissions Trading and Environmental Protection: International Evidence," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 70(7), pages 4593-4603, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peng, Shengnan & Liu, Chan & Wang, Ze & Ye, Zihan & Sun, Xialing & Tan, Zhanglu, 2024. "The impact of the carbon reduction policy effectiveness on energy companies' ESG performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    2. Wang, Juling & Liu, Lihua & Ou, Yangchao, 2024. "Low-carbon city pilot policy and corporate environmental violations: Evidence from heavily polluting firms in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. Dai, Jiapeng, 2025. "Is policy pilot a viable path to sustainable development? Attention allocation perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    4. Wan, Min & Wei, Dedai & Yu, Chenming, 2025. "Low-carbon pilot cities and financialization of listed companies: Inhibitory effects and policy analysis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    5. Cai, Xiaotong & Yuan, Bo & Wu, Chao, 2025. "An integrated CEEMDAN and TCN-LSTM deep learning framework for forecasting," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    6. Kwon, Ohyun & Zhao, Hao & Zhao, Min Qiang, 2023. "Global firms and emissions: Investigating the dual channels of emissions abatement," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    7. Gong, Zhenting & Chen, Yanbei & Zhang, He & Chen, Fan, 2024. "Tail risk connectedness in the Carbon-Finance nexus: Evidence from a quantile spillover approach in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(PB).
    8. Li, Yu & Yaacob, Mohd Hasimi & Xie, Tao, 2024. "Effects of China's low carbon pilot city policy on corporate green innovation: Considering the mediating role of public environmental concern," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    9. Stefano DellaVigna & Guido Imbens & Woojin Kim & David M. Ritzwoller, 2025. "Using Multiple Outcomes to Adjust Standard Errors for Spatial Correlation," Papers 2504.13295, arXiv.org.
    10. Wang, Jingru & Liu, Tinghua & Aziz, Noshaba & Sui, Hongguang, 2024. "Exploring the role of trade credit in facilitating low-carbon development: Insights from Chinese enterprises," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    11. Goodell, John W. & Gurdgiev, Constantin & Karim, Sitara & Palma, Alessia, 2024. "Carbon emissions and liquidity management," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PA).
    12. Satoğlu, E. Beyza & Salmon, Jessica Rae, 2024. "Environmental policy stringency and foreign direct investment: A study considering the impact of country-income level," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    13. Aubry, Amandine & Héricourt, Jérôme & Marchal, Léa & Nedoncelle, Clément, 2022. "Does Immigration AffectWages? A Meta-Analysis," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 2202, CEPREMAP.
    14. Kirill Borusyak & Peter Hull & Xavier Jaravel, 2025. "Design-based identification with formula instruments: a review," The Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 28(1), pages 83-108.
    15. Liu, Chen & Ma, Xiao, 2018. "China's Export Surge and the New Margins of Trade," MPRA Paper 103970, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Oct 2020.
    16. Huai Deng & Huan Wu & Hui Xu, 2025. "Social cost of carbon under endogenous social adaptation," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 178(4), pages 1-20, April.
    17. Yu, Jisang & Villoria, Nelson B. & Hendricks, Nathan P., 2019. "The Incidence of Foreign Market Accessibility on Farmland Rental Rates," 2019: Recent Advances in Applied General Equilibrium Modeling: Relevance and Application to Agricultural Trade Analysis, December 8-10, 2019, Washington, DC 339333, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
    18. Fernández Guerrico, Sofía, 2021. "The effects of trade-induced worker displacement on health and mortality in Mexico," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    19. Biavaschi, Costanza & Facchini, Giovanni, 2020. "Immigrant Franchise and Immigration Policy: Evidence from the Progressive Era," IZA Discussion Papers 13195, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Adam Levai & Riccardo Turati, 2021. "The Impact of Immigration on Workers’ Protection," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2021021, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES), revised 07 Sep 2021.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Low-carbon policy intensity; Carbon emissions; Corporate sustainable transformation strategy; Formal carbon regulations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • P28 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Natural Resources; Environment
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:72:y:2025:i:c:s1544612324015411. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.