Does environmental decentralization promote green technology innovation? —Empirical evidence based on River Chief System

Based on the River Chief System policy characterized by Environmental Decentralization, a double difference model was used to empirically test the impact of Environmental Decentralization on Green Technology Innovation using panel data from 283 cities in China from 2005 to 2022. Research has found that there is a significant positive impact between Environmental Decentralization and Green Technology Innovation. Furthermore, the introduction of the spatial double difference model verifies the significant positive spatial spillover effect of Green Technology Innovation. Robustness testing is also conducted through a series of methods, such as replacing explanatory variables, to confirm the robustness and credibility of the results.