To a certain extent,ESG performance can not only measure the comprehensive level of listed companies,but also become an important standard to reflect the"Dual Carbon"goal and promote green and sustainable transformation.This paper takes the revision of the Environmental Protection Law in 2014 and the environmental protection regulations promulgated or revised by 17 provinces as a quasi-natural experi-ment,and uses the ESG score provided by Bloomberg to measure the ESG performance of listed companies.It analyzes the impact and internal mechanism of environmental regulation on the ESG performance of listed companies by DID.The research finds that environmental regulation significantly improves the ESG perform-ance of heavy polluting listed companies,compared with non-heavy-polluting ones.As for sub-scores,envi-ronmental regulation has significantly promoted the environmental(E)and social(S)performance of listed companies,but no evidence of improvement in corporate governance(G)performance has been found.In addition,the heterogeneity analysis reveals that environmental regulations more significantly affect ESG per-formance of state-owned companies and listed companies with high R&D investment.Hence,governments should accelerate the standardization and compulsion of ESG information disclosure,and improve the quality of ESG information disclosed by listed companies.Meanwhile,governments should strengthen organizational leadership and improve relevant laws and regulations to encourage enterprises to actively practice ESG philos-ophy.
environmental regulationheavy polluting firmESG performanceinnovation abilitygreen development
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