Navigating the green transition: assessing the impact of Chinese green public procurement on corporate pollution emissions

Purpose Green Public Procurement (GPP) is a crucial way to promote producing green products, but its relationship with corporate pollution emissions needs to be verified. This study aims to evaluate the environmental effects of the policy by analyzing how GPP influences corporate environmental pollution. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on extensive sample data of Chinese industrial enterprises from 2001 to 2010, using China’s first GPP list as an exogenous policy. The authors have established a differential model to explore the impact of GPP on corporate environmental pollution and its underlying mechanisms. Findings GPP significantly reduces the sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions of enterprises. Verify the robustness of this conclusion by replacing variables, excluding other policy interventions that reduce selfselection bias, and conducting placebo testing. GPP encourages regulated enterprises to improve their production processes, drive clean production with green technology innovation, optimize energy structure, improve energy efficiency and reduce their emissions. The environmental cleaning effect of GPP is more significant in eastern and central China large and medium-sized urban areas. GPP has more effectively reduced SO2 emissions from private capital-intensive and heavily polluting enterprises. Originality/value This paper constructs a difference-in-differences model to study China’s first GPP list in 2006. It explores how GPP policies affect corporate pollution reduction. The findings enrich GPP research in China and emerging economies. Moreover, unlike existing studies on corporate pollution subject to environmental regulation, this paper focuses on how corporate pollution reduction is affected by demand-driven GPP policies, expanding the theoretical research.