THE IMPACT OF CHINA’S CARBON PLEDGE ON THE COUNTRY’S HYDROPOWER PRODUCTION: EVIDENCE FROM THE STOCK MARKET

Abstract

China’s national climate goals to “peak” its carbon emissions before 2030 and to achieve “carbon neutrality” before 2060 are considered to exert a considerable impact on the country’s production of hydropower, one of the major clean energy sources. Although the existing literature provides a large number of studies on the impacts of China’s “dual carbon” climate goals, only very few studies discuss their impact on the hydropower industry. This paper selects Chinese hydropower companies listed on the country’s stock market to examine. To overcome the traditional problem of the Chow test, the Quandt–Andrews test is used to identify the structural changes in the stock market performance data of those selected companies. The analysis provides essential evidence that shows the considerable impact of China’s announcement of “dual carbon” climate goals on the country’s hydropower industry.