IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v15y2022i14p5036-d859553.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Carbon Emission Trading and Corporate Financing: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Li Meng

    (School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work and share first authorship.)

  • Ke Wang

    (School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work and share first authorship.)

  • Taoyong Su

    (School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China)

  • He He

    (School of Economics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China)

Abstract

As an important tool to control CO 2 emission, carbon emission trading (CET) has been highlighted in prior studies for its positive effects on firms. However, we are concerned about the role of the CET in corporate financing. Through a quasi-natural experiment from China’s CET pilot, regarded as the start-up stage of China’s emission trading system, we investigate the manufacturing corporate financing (i.e., debt and commercial credit financing). The results show that the firms in China’s CET market have less debt financing. Additionally, in the heterogeneity analysis, we found that (1) the CET is negatively related to corporate financing when their financing constraints are weak, whereas it only reduces long-term debt for the firms with strong financing constraints. (2) The impact of the CET on corporate financing is not significant for the firms located in first-tier cities in China, but in other cities, the CET negatively influences firms’ long-term debt and contributes to commercial credit financing. (3) The CET only plays a negative role in long-term debt and a positive role in commercial credit financing for firms in high energy-consuming industries. This study enlightens the government to improve the emission trading system and increase financing support to manufacturing firms in the CET market.

Suggested Citation

  • Li Meng & Ke Wang & Taoyong Su & He He, 2022. "Carbon Emission Trading and Corporate Financing: Evidence from China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-13, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:14:p:5036-:d:859553
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/14/5036/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/14/5036/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ma, Qiang & Murshed, Muntasir & Khan, Zeeshan, 2021. "The nexuses between energy investments, technological innovations, emission taxes, and carbon emissions in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    2. Jacobson, Louis S & LaLonde, Robert J & Sullivan, Daniel G, 1993. "Earnings Losses of Displaced Workers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(4), pages 685-709, September.
    3. Oestreich, A. Marcel & Tsiakas, Ilias, 2015. "Carbon emissions and stock returns: Evidence from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 294-308.
    4. Shi, Jinyan & Yu, Conghui & Li, Yanxi & Wang, Tianhe, 2022. "Does green financial policy affect debt-financing cost of heavy-polluting enterprises? An empirical evidence based on Chinese pilot zones for green finance reform and innovations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    5. Fard, Amirhossein & Javadi, Siamak & Kim, Incheol, 2020. "Environmental regulation and the cost of bank loans: International evidence," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    6. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo, 2010. "Giving Credit Where It Is Due," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 61-80, Summer.
    7. Zhu, Bangzhu & Zhang, Mengfan & Huang, Liqing & Wang, Ping & Su, Bin & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2020. "Exploring the effect of carbon trading mechanism on China's green development efficiency: A novel integrated approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    8. Xu, Yong & Li, Shanshan & Zhou, Xiaoxiao & Shahzad, Umer & Zhao, Xin, 2022. "How environmental regulations affect the development of green finance: Recent evidence from polluting firms in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 917-926.
    9. Zheng Song & Kjetil Storesletten & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2011. "Growing Like China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(1), pages 196-233, February.
    10. Chen, Xing & Lin, Boqiang, 2021. "Towards carbon neutrality by implementing carbon emissions trading scheme: Policy evaluation in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    11. Yang, Lisha & Li, Yutianhao & Liu, Hongxun, 2021. "Did carbon trade improve green production performance? Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    12. Brink, Corjan & Vollebergh, Herman R.J. & van der Werf, Edwin, 2016. "Carbon pricing in the EU: Evaluation of different EU ETS reform options," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 603-617.
    13. Obobisa, Emma Serwaa & Chen, Haibo & Mensah, Isaac Adjei, 2022. "The impact of green technological innovation and institutional quality on CO2 emissions in African countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    14. Zhang, Shengling & Wang, Yao & Hao, Yu & Liu, Zhiwei, 2021. "Shooting two hawks with one arrow: Could China's emission trading scheme promote green development efficiency and regional carbon equality?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    15. Hintermayer, Martin, 2020. "A Carbon Price Floor in the Reformed EU ETS: Design Matters!," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224576, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    16. Hintermayer, Martin, 2020. "A carbon price floor in the reformed EU ETS: Design matters!," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    17. Zhao, Xin-gang & Jiang, Gui-wu & Nie, Dan & Chen, Hao, 2016. "How to improve the market efficiency of carbon trading: A perspective of China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1229-1245.
    18. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    19. Easwaran Narassimhan & Kelly S. Gallagher & Stefan Koester & Julio Rivera Alejo, 2018. "Carbon pricing in practice: a review of existing emissions trading systems," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(8), pages 967-991, September.
    20. Yang, Xinyu & Jiang, Ping & Pan, Yao, 2020. "Does China's carbon emission trading policy have an employment double dividend and a Porter effect?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    21. Liu, Liwei & Chen, Chuxiang & Zhao, Yufei & Zhao, Erdong, 2015. "China׳s carbon-emissions trading: Overview, challenges and future," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 254-266.
    22. Chen, Zhongfei & Zhang, Xiao & Chen, Fanglin, 2021. "Do carbon emission trading schemes stimulate green innovation in enterprises? Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    23. Bersani, Alberto M. & Falbo, Paolo & Mastroeni, Loretta, 2022. "Is the ETS an effective environmental policy? Undesired interaction between energy-mix, fuel-switch and electricity prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    24. Lin, Boqiang & Jia, Zhijie, 2019. "Impacts of carbon price level in carbon emission trading market," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(C), pages 157-170.
    25. Nicola Raimo & Alessandra Caragnano & Marianna Zito & Filippo Vitolla & Massimo Mariani, 2021. "Extending the benefits of ESG disclosure: The effect on the cost of debt financing," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 1412-1421, July.
    26. Clò, Stefano & Battles, Susan & Zoppoli, Pietro, 2013. "Policy options to improve the effectiveness of the EU emissions trading system: A multi-criteria analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 477-490.
    27. Brouwers, Roel & Schoubben, Frederiek & Van Hulle, Cynthia & Van Uytbergen, Steve, 2016. "The initial impact of EU ETS verification events on stock prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 138-149.
    28. Zhang, Yue-Jun & Wang, Wei, 2021. "How does China's carbon emissions trading (CET) policy affect the investment of CET-covered enterprises?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    29. Hintermayer, Martin, 2020. "A Carbon Price Floor in the Reformed EU ETS: Design matters!," EWI Working Papers 2020-3, Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln (EWI).
    30. Steven N. Kaplan & Luigi Zingales, 1997. "Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 169-215.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wu, Qingyang & Wang, Yanying, 2022. "How does carbon emission price stimulate enterprises' total factor productivity? Insights from China's emission trading scheme pilots," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    2. Song, Yazhi & Liu, Tiansen & Li, Yin & Zhu, Yue & Ye, Bin, 2022. "Paths and policy adjustments for improving carbon-market liquidity in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    3. Zhou, Anhua & Xin, Ling & Li, Jun, 2022. "Assessing the impact of the carbon market on the improvement of China's energy and carbon emission performance," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    4. Sheng Xu & Wenran Pan & Demei Wen, 2023. "Do Carbon Emission Trading Schemes Promote the Green Transition of Enterprises? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-28, April.
    5. Zhang, Dongyang & Kong, Qunxi & Wang, Yizhi & Vigne, Samuel A., 2023. "Exquisite workmanship through net-zero emissions? The effects of carbon emission trading policy on firms' export product quality," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    6. Shanglei Chai & Ruixuan Sun & Ke Zhang & Yueting Ding & Wei Wei, 2022. "Is Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) an Effective Market-Incentivized Environmental Regulation Policy? Evidence from China’s Eight ETS Pilots," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-18, March.
    7. Ren, Yi-Shuai & Derouiche, Imen & Hassan, Majdi & Liu, Pei-Zhi, 2024. "Do creditors price climate transition risks? A natural experiment based on China's carbon emission trading scheme," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 138-155.
    8. Enci Wang & Jianyun Nie & Hong Zhan, 2022. "The Impact of Carbon Emissions Trading on the Profitability and Debt Burden of Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-20, October.
    9. Zheng, Yan & Zhou, Min & Wen, Fenghua, 2021. "Asymmetric effects of oil shocks on carbon allowance price: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    10. Niu, Xiaoyan & Zhang, Yuwen & Li, Baoqi & Chen, Zhenling & Ni, Guohua & Lyu, Ning, 2024. "How does carbon emission trading scheme affect enterprise market value? A roadmap towards natural resources sustainability," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    11. Wang, Kai-Hua & Liu, Lu & Zhong, Yifan & Lobonţ, Oana-Ramona, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and carbon emission trading market: A China's perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    12. Ren, Yi-Shuai & Boubaker, Sabri & Liu, Pei-Zhi & Weber, Olaf, 2023. "How does carbon regulatory policy affect debt financing costs? Empirical evidence from China," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 77-90.
    13. Hu, Yucai & Li, Ranran & Du, Lei & Ren, Shenggang & Chevallier, Julien, 2022. "Could SO2 and CO2 emissions trading schemes achieve co-benefits of emissions reduction?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    14. Li, Changsheng & Qi, Yaping & Liu, Shaohui & Wang, Xu, 2022. "Do carbon ETS pilots improve cities' green total factor productivity? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    15. Ying Zhang & Yingli Huang, 2023. "Killing Two Birds with One Stone or Missing One of Them? The Synergistic Governance Effect of China’s Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme on Pollution Control and Carbon Emission Reduction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-25, June.
    16. Zhang, Shengling & Wang, Yao & Hao, Yu & Liu, Zhiwei, 2021. "Shooting two hawks with one arrow: Could China's emission trading scheme promote green development efficiency and regional carbon equality?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    17. Zhang, Jiekuan, 2023. "Emissions trading scheme and energy consumption and output structure: Evidence from China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(P1).
    18. Iva Ridjan Skov & Noémi Schneider & Gerald Schweiger & Josef-Peter Schöggl & Alfred Posch, 2021. "Power-to-X in Denmark: An Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-14, February.
    19. Huang, Hongyun & Mbanyele, William & Wang, Fengrong & Song, Malin & Wang, Yuzhang, 2022. "Climbing the quality ladder of green innovation: Does green finance matter?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    20. Yuan, Huaxi & Zou, Longhui & Feng, Yidai, 2023. "How to achieve emission reduction without hindering economic growth? The role of judicial quality," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:14:p:5036-:d:859553. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.