MASTERING ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY KNOWLEDGE: SEARCHING FOR THE PATH OF CORPORATE GREEN TRANSFORMATION IN THE CONTEXT OF CHINESE DIVERSIFIED ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES

As an important component of the market economy, enterprises should fully recognize the importance and urgency of sustainable development, and accelerate the process of green transformation. This article uses panel data from heavily polluting companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges in China from 2011 to 2020 to study the impact of heterogeneous environmental regulations on corporate green transformation (CGT). The research results indicate on one hand that pollution discharge fees significantly inhibit, whereas environmental subsidies significantly promote CGT. On the other hand, the board size and marketization degree can significantly moderate the negative relationship between pollution discharge fees and CGT; however, neither can significantly enhance the positive relationship between environmental subsidies and CGT. Also, in enterprises with high equity concentration or low growth potential, the inhibitory effect of pollution discharge fees on CGT is more pronounced, while the positive effects of environmental subsidies on CGT are more evident. In addition, pollution discharge fees inhibit corporate environmental strategy and thus inhibit CGT; environmental subsidies strengthen the CGT by promoting their environmental strategies. From the results of group testing, it can be seen that the mediating role of environmental strategy between pollution discharge fees and CGT is only played in high equity concentration enterprises and low growth enterprises; the mediating role of environmental strategy between environmental subsidies and CGT is not affected by equity concentration and corporate growth. The research can provide effective references for the government to implement precise policies and enterprises to adjust strategies to jointly promote CGT.