Exploring the transmission mechanism of low-carbon city pilot policies on enhancing agribusiness ESG performance: an empirical study using the PSM-DID model

Amid China's sustained medium-high speed economic growth, the extensive development model has caused severe climate deterioration and environmental pollution. The implementation of low-carbon city pilot policies provides a strategic direction for the sustainable development of agribusinesses. Using unbalanced panel data from 781 agriculture-related listed enterprises in China between 2007 and 2023, this study employs the PSM-DID model to estimate the average treatment effect and heterogeneity of low-carbon city pilot policies. In addition, a mediation model is applied to examine the mechanism through which digital transformation enhances the Environmental-Social-Governance (ESG) performance of these enterprises under policies. The empirical results indicate that: (1) low-carbon city pilot policies simultaneously improve the environmental, social, and governance performance of agribusiness enterprises, thereby enhancing their overall ESG performance. (2) The impact of policies on ESG, environmental, social, and governance performance varies across regions, with the western region showing the most significant improvement in ESG performance. (3) Digital transformation plays a significant mediating role in the effect of low-carbon city pilot policies on ESG, environmental, social, and governance performance. Based on these findings, agribusiness should leverage policy advantages to enhance sustainable development through multi-dimensional performance. The government should introduce targeted policies to help enterprises define development directions and formulate localized strategies. Furthermore, agribusinesses must strengthen digital transformation as a core driver for improving ESG performance.