Green Policy, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Protection Investments - Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies in Heavy Pollution Industries

Abstract Corporate environmental investment decision-making behavior is influenced by both the external factor of government green policy and the internal factor of corporate social responsibility. This paper empirically examines the effects of green policies and corporate social responsibility on corporate environmental investment using a fixed-effects panel data model with a sample of Chinese listed companies in the heavy pollution industry from 2013-2019 and further analyzes the possible moderating role played by market competition. The results show that: (1) Green policy and corporate environmental investment have an inverted “U-shaped” relationship, which indicates that there is a ”degree” limit to the impact of green policy on corporate environmental investment. (2) There is a U-shaped relationship between green investment and environmental governance green policy tools and corporate environmental investment, while infrastructure green tool and corporate environmental investment in an inverted U-shaped relationship (3) Corporate social responsibility and the scale of its environmental investment has a positive relationship, green policy and corporate social responsibility have a joint effect corporate environmental investment. (4) The higher the degree of market competition, the more significant the effect of green policy on corporate environmental investment.