摘要：如何提高企业绿色创新水平是近年来广受学界关注的问题。文章利用2009—2020年我国沪深股市上市公司绿色专利数据，研究地方政府环境关注度对企业绿色创新的影响。实证结果表明：第一，地方政府环境关注度可以显著提升企业的绿色创新水平，且通过一系列的稳健性检验。第二，地方政府环境关注度与企业绿色创新的正相关关系对于经济发达地区企业、未强制披露环境信息企业、大规模企业以及通过环境管理体系认证的企业更显著，意味着企业的“避免环境监管处罚”动机能较好地解释地方政府环境关注度与企业绿色创新的正相关关系。因此，提高地方政府环境关注度，加强地方政府环境监管对于提高企业绿色创新水平，加快建立生态友好型社会具有重要意义。
关键词：地方政府环境关注度；企业绿色创新；调节效应；环境监管
Does Local Governments' Attention to Environment Promote Firm's Green Innovation? Evidence from Chinese A-share Listed Firms
Ruan Qingsong, Xie Yuanxin, Lv Dayong
Abstract: Improving firm's green innovation has become a highly debated topic in academia in recent years. This paper explores the effect of the local governments' attention to environment on the firm's green innovation with a panel data of 297 Chinese cities over the period 2009—2020. We find the governments' attention to environment effectively promotes the firm's green innovation, this result still holds after a series of robustness checks. The possible explanations show that firm carries out green innovation activities to avoid government environmental regulatory penalties. The positive correlation between the local governments' attention to environment and firm's green innovation is more pronounced for economically developed regions, environmental information disclosure firms, large-scale enterprises, and those uncertified firms with environmental management systems. This suggests that the motivation of firms to avoid environmental regulatory penalties provides a plausible explanation for the positive relationship between local governments' attention to environment and firm's green innovation. Therefore, enhancing the local governments' attention to environment and strengthening their environmental monitoring efforts are of great significance in improving the level of corporate green innovation and expediting the establishment of an eco-friendly society.
Keywords: Governments' Attention to Environment; Firm's Green Innovation; Moderating Effects; Environmental Regulation
