Green Bond Issuance and Peer Firms’ Green Innovation

Abstract

Based on the realistic background of the rapid development of China’s green bond market, this paper uses the data of China’s non-financial listed companies from 2010 to 2020 to examine the impact of green bond issuance on peer firms’ green innovation. The results show that the issuance of corporate green bonds can significantly promote the quantity and quality of peer firms’ green innovation, and this promotion effect is sustainable. The heterogeneity test shows that when the issuer of green bonds is an industry leader or the issuer is highly concerned by the media, the green innovation promotion effect of peer firms is more significant. Similarly, when the issuer and the peer firm are close competitors or in the same board network, the peer firm has a higher level of green innovation. It is further found that the green innovation behavior adopted by peer firms can significantly improve their environmental performance. The article indicates that the issuance of corporate green bonds can produce a good spillover effect of green innovation in the industry, which is conducive to China’s strategic goal of “carbon neutrality, carbon emission peak”.