The impact of the new Environmental Protection Law on green technology innovation in resource-based enterprises: a double machine learning approach

Given the background of global ecological civilization construction, understanding the impact of environmental policies on corporate green innovation is of great significance. Based on a constructed theoretical model, this study employs a Double Machine Learning (DML) model to examine the impact of the new Environmental Protection Law on green technology innovation in resource-based enterprises, using sample data from Chinese resource-based listed companies from 2008 to 2024. The findings of this study include: (1) The new Law has a positive impact on green technology innovation in resource-based enterprises. This conclusion remains robust after tests, including those addressing endogeneity. (2) The local government environmental attention and the corporate environmental information disclosure constitute the mechanisms through which the new Law affects green technology innovation in resource-based enterprises. (3) The positive impact of the new Law on green technology innovation in resource-based enterprises is more pronounced when the chairman or executives of the enterprise hold Communist Party membership or possess a digital professional background, or when the enterprise is located in a key environmental protection city or an economically developed eastern region of China.