The effectiveness of subsidies in improving the performance of renewable energy firms has aroused significant research attention in recent years. As subsidy modes may affect corporate financial performance,we have chosen companies specializing in wind and solar energy in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets as samples.The relationships between the subsidy modes and financial performance of these two types of companies are investigated with a panel data model. Results of the total sample indicate that both indirect and non-innovative subsidy have significant effects on the financial performance of renewable energy companies. The regressive coefficient of the former,however, is a negative value, which illustrates that taxation, bonus, and other market-based mechanisms impair corporate profitability. Moreover, the influence of innovative subsidy is weak, which means that the subsidy used for research and development, technical demonstration, and other innovations of renewable energy enterprises have failed to effectively enhance corporate financial performance. In terms of sub-industries, the direct subsidy for wind energy companies has achieved a significant effect. Incomparison, the indirect subsidy and innovative subsidy acquired by solar energy companies have notably reduced corporate profitability. Thissuggests an urgent reform of subsidy policy for this industry is needed. The government should consider differences in the effects subsidies have for wind and solar energy companies when improving subsidy policy. In addition, market-based subsidy mechanisms should be perfected, and the structure of innovative subsidies should be ameliorated.

Based on panel data on 285 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2012, we use a dynamic spatial panel model to empirically analyze the effect of manufacturing agglomeration on haze pollution. The results show that when economic development levels, population, technological levels, industrial structure, transportation, foreign direct investment, and greening levels are stable, manufacturing agglomeration significantly aggravates haze pollution. However, region-specific analysis reveals that the effects of manufacturing agglomeration on inter-regional haze pollution depends on the region: the effect of manufacturing agglomeration on haze pollution is the largest in the Western region, followed by the Central region, and is the least in the Eastern region. Based on the above conclusions, we put forward several specific suggestions, such as giving full play to the technology and knowledge spillover effects of manufacturing agglomeration, guiding manufacturing agglomerations in a scientific and rational way, accelerating the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industries in agglomeration regions.

Chinese resource-exhausted cities face more severe environmental pollution problems than other cities. In addressing these problems, the way local officials (usually senior party and government leaders) operate is very important, as their focus on political achievements may complicate how they manage environmental pollution in these cities. On the one hand, the traditional Gross Domestic Product-based quest for political achievement may lead top leaders to de-emphasize environmental pollution. On the other hand, changes made in 2003 to the way the performance of Chinese officials is evaluated have encouraged some local senior party and government leaders to pay more attention to environmental problems. Based on this, we analyze the relationship between political incentives and environmental pollution by applying the 2004–2014 panel data from 37 resource-exhausted cities. The findings reveal that firstly, among the factors which impact the environmental pollution of resource-exhausted cities, investment in fixed assets, foreign direct investment, industrial structure, per-capita education expenditure, and population density do not have a significant impact, thus indicating that local openness levels, the degree of industrial upgrading, and local investment in fixed assets are not the key variables in environmental pollution control. Secondly, the extent to which officials vie for political achievement affects environmental pollution in resource-exhausted cities. This depends upon whether the officials are municipal party secretaries or mayors; the former play a greater dynamic role in environmental pollution and have stronger robustness than the latter. The conclusion verifies both the existing authority structure of China and its effectiveness in the control of environmental pollution of resource-exhausted cities. That is to say, in contrast to the principles of the party committees, the mayors are in a subordinate position and often fail to fully and effectively exercise their functions. Accordingly, we point out that the selection of municipal party secretaries, rather than mayors, is particularly important in coming to terms with local environmental pollution.

Recent studies highlighted the need for multi-perspective research on the internationalization and performance of emerging market multinational enterprises (EM-MNEs) and revealed why many EM-MNEs perform negatively when they respond to the host-country environment. Using a sample of listed Chinese manufacturing firms from 2003 to 2014, this study examines the relationship between entry mode choice, which is driven by different environmental response patterns, and firms’ innovation performance. We further analyze the moderating role of market selection on the relationship between host-country institutional factors and firms’ innovation performance. The results show that the international breadth of firms and the economic stability and investment protection of the host country significantly promote firms’ innovation performance. While the entry mode is unilaterally driven by the host-country response, early international experience and the international depth of firms have significant negative effects on firms’ innovation performance. The level of economic development in the invested area plays a moderating role in the relationship between the host-country institutional factors and firms’ innovation performance. Our findings enrich the literature on the relationship between internationalization and EM-MNE performance, and provide inspiring and straightforward empirical evidence.

Charitable donations are an effective way for heavy-pollution industries to reduce their environmental reputation risk. In China, the communist party committees within corporations play a key role in decisions regarding charitable donations. However, relatively little is known about the relationship between the governance of corporate party committees and charitable donations. Using data from Chinese listed firms in heavy-pollution industries from 2013 to 2018, we found that corporate party committee governance enhanced the willingness of firms to donate and to increase the amount of their donations significantly. The effect on intention of charitable donations was pronounced for non-state-owned enterprises (NSOEs), whereas the effect on the amount of donations was pronounced for state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Party committee governance increased the amount of charitable donations in regions with a higher level of marketization, but it reduced the amount of charitable donations in firms/industries with a high degree of monopoly. Our findings provide insight for the decisive role of party committees in corporate charitable donations in heavy-pollution industries.

In 2017, China made an ambitious statement of high-quality development (HQD) with which to realize the goals of sustainability proposed by the United Nations. Our paper sheds new light on how the corporate high-quality development is affected by the responsibility system for environmental protection targets using a sample of energy-intensive firms from 2003 to 2018. We calculate the indexes for corporate high-quality development using entropy weighting for the five dimensions: efficiency, innovation, openness, greenness, and social responsibility. Then, we develop a difference-in-differences model to reveal that the responsibility system for environmental protection targets significantly dampens high-quality development of corporations, as the estimated coefficient is −0.0420 with a t-statistic of −2.9384. In contrast with private firms, the high-quality development of state-owned firms shows no significant correlation with environmental policy constraints. The efficiency of capital allocation by corporations mediates the effects of responsibility for environmental protection targets on high-quality development. Our study suggests several policy implications: first, understand the connotation of a high-quality development system, and formulate diversified regulatory policies. Second, the responsibility system for environmental protection targets in China should be implemented steadily within the firm’s abilities. Next, the high-quality development of private firms should generate great attention. Finally, corporate internal governance should be designed to improve high-quality development.