Unleashing green technology innovation in agribusiness: traditional environmental regulations, carbon trading, or synergies?

Stimulating green technology innovation in agricultural enterprises through appropriate environmental policies is of great significance for achieving green agricultural development. Based on the data of listed agribusinesses from 2007 to 2020, this paper analyzes the incentive effects of traditional environmental regulatory tools, carbon trading, and policy synergies using the SDM-SDID model. It was found that: (1) Although both traditional environmental regulatory tools and carbon trading provide incentive effects, the former tends to exhibit more pronounced direct effects, making it more suitable for adoption by local governments, while the latter demonstrates stronger spatial spillover effects, making it more appropriate for application in a national market context. (2) Command-and-control environmental regulatory instruments and carbon trading are complementary policy mixes, and other environmental policy mixes are to be used as appropriate in the context of the actual situation. (3) The incentive effects of environmental policies are more significant in eastern regions, non-heavily polluting, and state-owned agribusinesses, but not in the basic agricultural sector. Based on the above research, this paper reveals the differentiated effects of different types of environmental policies and policy combinations on the green technology innovation of agribusinesses. This contributes to the deepening of research on environmental policy selection and provides theoretical support and practical references for precise policy implementation and collaborative governance.