New Energy Demonstration City Policy and Corporate Green Innovation: From the Perspective of Industrial and Regional Spillover Effect

The new energy transition creates favorable opportunities for popularizing green technologies, while the new energy demonstration city (NEDC) policy provides pivotal platforms for propelling China’s energy transition. Using panel data for listed companies in China, this study ascertains the impact of the NEDC policy on green innovation. The results indicate that the NEDC policy has a positive effect on fostering corporate green innovation. The beneficial impact of the policy is primarily attributed to heightened R&D investment, enhanced human capital, and the mitigation of financial constraints. The NEDC policy exerts a more pronounced influence on green innovation for non-state-owned enterprises, high-energy-consuming enterprises, and those located in the mid-west or in non-resource-based cities. Further, the NEDC policy exhibits negative spillover effects across regions, but positive spillover effects within industries. The regional spillover effects exhibit heterogeneity, with inhibitory effects being more significant in the eastern regions and non-resource-based cities.