Research on the Correlation between Environmental Governance and Corporate Ecological Performance

China's efforts to regulate airborne pollutants are supported by the Central Environmental Inspection (C.E.I.), which employs an innovative incentive system designed to align the national government with local environmental authorities.This study examines the impact of strategic disruptions on the control of airborne pollutants through an event-study methodology, utilizing daily air quality data from 282 county-level cities.The findings indicate that the C.E.I. effectively reduced the Air Quality Index (AQI).During on-site inspections, there was a notable increase in the concentrations of various pollutants, including PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, and CO, while levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) remained unchanged, likely due to a compensatory effect associated with elevated NOx concentrations.Contrary to expectations based on existing literature, the C.E.I. did not yield long-term reductions in emissions.A plausible explanation for this phenomenon is that local authorities provided advance notice to polluting enterprises, prompting them to temporarily lower emissions in the month preceding inspections.Following the inspections, emissions reverted to pre-inspection levels.It is noteworthy that SO2 levels remained relatively stable, whereas PM2.5, NO2, and CO levels were consistently above average, suggesting that many businesses outside the energy sector increased production to compensate for lost productivity during inspections.Data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) indicates that manufacturing restrictions enabled companies to achieve an unsustainable enhancement in environmental performance.Additionally, evidence suggests that the enforcement of the C.E.I. had a more pronounced effect on China's most polluted urban areas and rural regions, likely due to the concentration of industrial activities in these locales.The article advocates for the implementation of additional policies to sustain China's environmental performance and optimize its ecological governance.