How does government environmental attention affect green technology innovation? New evidence from cities in China

Green technology innovation (GTI) has become a pivotal strategy for governments worldwide to address climate change and environmental degradation. However, the role of government environmental attention (GEA) in driving GTI remains underexplored, particularly at the city level. Utilizing China’s city-level panel data from 2004 to 2020 and textual analysis of 297 government work reports, this study constructs novel indicators for GEA and GTI to empirically examine their relationship. We find that GEA plays a beneficial role in promoting GTI, and the results are robust after considering endogeneity and further robustness test. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that this positive effect is stronger in coastal cities, economically advanced regions, and areas with high industrial agglomeration, highlighting the interplay between policy prioritization and regional development dynamics. The mechanism test shows that GEA has the potential to indirectly support GTI by easing financing constraints and promoting industrial structure upgrading. Our findings underscore the importance of tailoring environmental policies to local contexts, such as designing region-specific green financing mechanisms and industrial transition programs. This study not only contributes to the theoretical discourse on environmental governance and innovation but also provides actionable insights for policymakers to leverage GEA as a catalyst for achieving sustainable low-carbon development.