How Does Environmental Regulation Affect ESG Level of Manufacturing Enterprises?:A Quasi-natural Experiment Based on the New Environmental Protection Law
As the major production sector of China,manufacturing has a serious problem of pollution and energy consumption.Under the accelerated promotion of"Green Manufacturing",exploring how to realize the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing in the face of increasingly stringent environmental regulations is of great significance.Taking the new Environmental Protection Law as an example,difference in difference method was used to demonstrate high-intensity environmental regulation's positive feedback on the sustainable development of manufacturing enterprises from the perspective of ESG(environmental,social,governance)performance.The result indicates that the policy plays a positive role by promoting the application of digital technology,easing financing constraints and reducing external competition.The empirical test of the effectiveness of the new Environmental Protection Law is supplemented at the level of long-term development goals of manufacturing enterprises,and the internal and external perspectives of enterprises is comprehensively analyzed as to the mechanism of high-intensity environmental regulation.