ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Air Pollution and Corporate Green Investment: Evidence from Chinese Industrial Companies
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1
School of Accounting, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330013, China
 
2
School of Business, Jishou University, Jishou, Hunan 416000, China
 
 
Submission date: 2024-07-14
 
 
Final revision date: 2024-08-31
 
 
Acceptance date: 2024-10-13
 
 
Online publication date: 2025-01-16
 
 
Publication date: 2025-11-14
 
 
Corresponding author
Jiejing Ma   

School of Accounting, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330013, China
 
 
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2025;34(6):8469-8481
 
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ABSTRACT
Air pollution influences the investment decision-making behavior of micro-enterprises within a region. This study empirically investigates the impact of regional air pollution on corporate green investment using a sample of Chinese A-share industrial listed companies from 2014 to 2022. The findings indicate that worsening air pollution prompts companies to undertake green investments. Environmental pressure from air pollution influences corporate green investment through three channels: local government environmental regulation, media attention, and public environmental supervision. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the promoting effect of air pollution on corporate green investment is more significant in regions with lower marketization levels, heavily polluted industries, state-owned enterprises, companies with lower government subsidies, and those with lower institutional shareholding. This study uncovers the micro-mechanism through which air pollution impacts economic development, providing theoretical support and empirical evidence for local governments to formulate pollution control policies and achieve low-carbon economic development.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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