Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: China’s achievements in carbon reduction are largely attributed to the promotion of green innovations by energy firms (Liu and Liang, 2013 ). By 2019, China had reduced its carbon intensity by 47.9% compared to 2005 and increased the share of non-fossil fuels in energy consumption to 15.3% (Zhao et al., 2022 ). In the clean energy sector, China’s installed clean energy capacity surged from 152.2 million kilowatts in 2007 to 1.06 billion kilowatts in 2021, nearly a sevenfold increase, largely driven by the rapid growth of green innovations. In the traditional energy sector, China has actively advanced carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology and launched over 40 demonstration projects with a total carbon capture capacity of 3 million tons per year (Zhao et al., 2022 ). Achieving such advancements requires the support of multiple stakeholders, including policymakers, corporate managers, and investors (Mazaj et al., 2022 ). In emerging markets like China, institutional investors, serving as a key force in external corporate governance, possess keen market insight and extensive experience in corporate governance. They can provide valuable external insights that support firms’ sustainable development and enhance strategic decision-making. However, some studies argue that institutional investors may also exploit their industry expertise to help invested firms circumvent green governance requirements. As institutional investors become more actively involved in corporate activities, both their potential for positive governance impact and their propensity for opportunistic behavior have become increasingly apparent. Therefore, this study primarily examines the impact of institutional investors on corporate green innovation, emphasizing their role as external governance agents. Notably, previous studies on institutional investors and green innovation have overlooked interactions among portfolio firms. Therefore, this study takes these interconnections into account and examines how common institutional ownership, a unique type of institutional ownership, influences corporate green innovation.
Authors: Wenjun Su, Xiaohui Zhao
Institution: Beijing Institute of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Accounting
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,890
OpenAlex ID: W4413676228