环境法治强化与上市工业企业绿色转型 ———基于环保法庭设立与大语言模型测度的证据

Strengthening Environmental Rule of Law and Green Transformation of Listed Industrial Firms: Evidence from Environmental Courts and LLM Assessment

摘要:

社会各界关于工业企业绿色转型的重要性已基本达成共识,使用环保法庭设立这一准自然实验考查环境法治强化如何破解工业企业绿色转型难题。然而,当前企业绿色转型的测度存在以下问题:一是代理变量与综合指标法覆盖范围有限,无法全面反映企业的绿色转型;二是当前文本分析方法依赖预设词典,难以捕捉复杂语义。基于此,创新性地运用大语言模型分析年报文本来构造企业绿色转型指标,并基于 2004—2023 年中国上市工业企业数据,选取环保法庭设立这一准自然实验来考查环境法治强化如何破解上市工业企业绿色转型难题。基于多期 DID 法分析发现,环保法庭设立显著促进了企业的绿色转型,且对国有企业、大规模企业和位于非长江经济带及低法治水平地区的企业的影响更加显著。机制分析表明,环保法庭的设立通过外部监督渠道与内部治理渠道推动企业绿色转型。拓展性分析发现,环保法庭的设立有助于减少企业污染排放,且企业绿色转型进一步降低了其面临的市场特殊风险。研究结论不仅为加强环境法治建设提供了理论支撑,也为实现工业企业绿色转型发展提供新路径。

Abstract:

The green transformation of industrial firms is widely recognized as crucial. Using the establishment of environmental courts as a quasi-natural experiment, an investigation was conducted into how strengthened environmental rule of law addresses green transformation challenges. Existing measurements of corporate green transition face notable limitations: proxy variables and comprehensive indices offer limited coverage, while text analysis methods relying on predefined dictionaries struggle with complex semantics. To address these issues, an innovative approach utilizing large language models to analyze annual reports was adopted to construct a corporate green transition indicator. Based on data from Chinese listed industrial enterprises ( from 2004 to 2023), the establishment of environmental courts was employed to examine how strengthened environmental rule of law resolves green transition challenges. Through a staggered DID methodology, it is revealed that environmental court establishment significantly promotes corporate green transition, with more pronounced effects observed in state-owned enterprises, large firms, and those located outside the Yangtze River Economic Belt or in low-rule-of-law regions. Mechanism analysis shows this transition is driven through external oversight and internal governance channels. It is further found that environmental court establishment contributes to reduced pollution emissions, and that corporate green transition subsequently mitigates idiosyncratic risks. Theoretical support is thus provided for strengthening the environmental rule of law, and new pathways are offered for achieving industrial green transformation.