Environmental pollution liability insurance and green innovation of enterprises: Incentive tools or self-interest means?

Abstract

The existing theoretical research on environmental liability insurance mainly focuses on system construction, development status and other aspects, and mainly consists of normative research, with relatively little empirical research. This paper uses empirical research methods to explore the impact of environmental liability insurance on the green innovation of enterprises and examines the driving role of environmental liability insurance in green innovation from the perspective of green governance. This paper, based on the list of enterprises purchasing environmental pollution liability insurance (EPLI) as published by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, explores the impact of EPLI on the green innovation of enterprises. It is found that purchasing EPLI can significantly improve the green innovation of enterprises. The effect path test shows that EPLI can promote the green innovation of enterprises by relaxing financing constraints and reducing agency costs. The heterogeneity scenario test shows that compared with non-state-owned enterprises, non-heavily polluting enterprises, and enterprises in regions with a lower intensity of environmental regulation, EPLI plays a stronger role in the promotion of green innovation of state-owned enterprises, heavily polluting enterprises and enterprises in regions with a higher intensity of environmental regulation. In addition, it is found that the promotion effect of EPLI on green innovation is mainly reflected in the significant improvement of high-quality green innovation and the optimization of the structure of the green patent output. This paper affirms the positive role of EPLI on the green operations of enterprises and provides empirical evidence that green insurance serves the development of the green innovation of enterprises.

Research on the impact of green insurance on regional environmental quality: evidence from China

“…On the other hand, a minority of scholars, through empirical research, have delved into the impact of GI on EQ. The research by Ning and other scholars indicates that GI, through flexible premium designs, incentivizes enterprises to adopt more environmentally friendly production methods, encouraging the reduction of pollution emissions (Ning et al, 2023). Studies by Hou and others indicate that enterprises purchasing GI allocate more funds to environmental protection projects (Hou and Wang, 2022).…”

“…A limited number of scholars have delved into an empirical analysis to further investigate the impact of GI on environmental pollution. Scholars such as Ning have uncovered that the differentiated premium design of GI serves as an incentive for enterprises to adopt more environmentally friendly production methods, thereby exerting a promoting effect on the enhancement of regional EQ (Ning et al, 2023). The research conducted by Hou and others reveals that enterprises purchasing GI allocate more funds to environmental construction, leading to a reduction in pollution emissions (Hou and Wang, 2022).…”

A Systematic Literature Review of the Empirical Research on the Promoting Mechanism of High-Level Financial Opening to Innovative Development of Manufacturing Industry

“…In terms of environmental pollution liability insurance, Ning Jinhui et al [101] demonstrated empirically that applying for environmental liability insurance [102] can promote the improvement of enterprise innovation capabilities, and it plays a positive role in enterprise innovation governance.…”

The effects of green finance on enterprises’ green innovation under the "dual carbon" goal: an exploratory study based on fsQCA

“…Environmental liability insurance, commonly known as green insurance. It refers to the insurance sector's provision of risk management and nancial assistance in the operation of green industries, social governance and environmental resource protection, and green living consumption (Lyu et al, 2022;Ning et al, 2023). Green insurance is divided into liability side and asset side.…”