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Environmental credit rating (ECR) is a novel environmental governance tool proposed by China, but its implementation effect is still unknown. This study analyzed whether it achieves the goal of encouraging green innovation in enterprises. Based on the green patent data of listed companies in heavy polluting industries in China from 2010 to 2018, we constructed a heterogeneous timing difference-in-differences model to empirically study the impact of the ECR policy on green innovation. We find that the policy has significantly promoted heavy polluting enterprises’ green innovation. Moreover, the results passed a series of robustness tests. Importantly, we find that the policy has a positive effect on enterprises’ green innovation through the reputation mechanism and financing mechanism. Furthermore, the incentive effect of the policy varies with enterprise characteristics and regional characteristics: the green innovation effect of the policy is more obvious in large-sized and state-owned companies and companies in regions with low fiscal pressure and a high level of financial development are more likely to induce firms’ green innovation. Our research will be of practical value to China's environmental management, as well as global value to other countries.

In this paper, we study the asymmetric duopoly models of competing supply chains with financing uncertainty. The financing uncertainty of the green supply chain's capacity investment could be available as complete or incomplete information to the traditional supply chain. By analyzing and comparing the optimal quantities, optimal prices, and optimal profits of both cases, we find that the financing uncertainty of capacity investment does not affect either chain's choices of equilibrium quantities and prices in the complete information case. If this information is incomplete for the traditional supply chain, financing uncertainty plays an important role in determining optimal quantities and optimal prices, together with the lending interest rate. To encourage the use of environmentally friendly technologies, government should use per-unit subsidies if the green supply chain suffers the cost disadvantage, and should encourage financial institutions to provide preferential loans to the green supply chain that suffers manufacturing or retailing capacity restrictions.

Poyang Lake suffers from a severe shortage of water, due to the construction of the Three Gorges Dam and other hydropower stations along the upper Yangtze River. In this paper, we propose a two-sector endogenous growth model to investigate the effects of extractive water use and impoundment activities on the optimal sustainable growth path. To offset the negative impact of the extractive use on the regenerative capacities of water resources, the impoundment activities should grow at a constant rate. We also provide a numerical example to illustrate the mechanisms of the endowment and the regenerative capacities of water resources on the long-run economic growth path. We find out some theoretical evidence to support the construction of a water conservancy project to restore regeneration capacities of Poyang Lake.

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