Are the Green TBTs a Stimulus or a Trap for Enterprises’ Green Technology Development?

Green trade barriers are often seen as a catalyst that promotes exporting countries to develop green technologies. However, by distinguishing the green technology behavior of enterprises into green technology transformation and green technology innovation, this paper finds that although green trade barriers can encourage enterprises in exporting countries to increase investment in green technology transformation in order to obtain rapid market access, they crowd out the resources of green technology innovation of enterprises. In other words, green trade barriers will strengthen enterprises’ dependence on the introduction of green technologies, weaken their innovation capabilities, and increase the risk of being locked in the middle of the global industrial chain, creating a trap effect. Using the data of enterprises in the heavily polluting industry of A-shares from 2009 to 2021, this paper confirms the existence of the trap effect. In addition, this paper finds that due to the influence of short-sightedness of managers, alleviating corporate financing constraints can enhance the promotion effect of green trade barriers on the green technological transformation of enterprises, but cannot reduce its inhibiting effect on green technology innovation. The study also finds that even if the time window is extended to the medium and long term, green trade barriers cannot have a significant positive impact on enterprises’ green technology innovation. Therefore, the government should not overestimate the role of green trade barriers in encouraging green development and green technology innovation, nor should it rely too much on loose financing policies. In contrast, government should formulate targeted industrial policies to help enterprises overcome green trade barriers through technological innovation.