Given the rural revitalization strategy in the new era, agricultural development is faced with the dual constraints of resources and the environment. Promoting the green development of agriculture is one of the important missions to solve major social issues in the new era. The implementation goal of the carbon emission trading system is to achieve a win-win situation between carbon emission reduction and green development. To evaluate the effectiveness of the carbon emission trading system on agricultural enterprises, this paper uses a double-difference model to analyze the policy effect and mechanism research path of the impact of the carbon emission trading system on the total factor productivity of agricultural enterprises. The results based on the panel data of listed agricultural companies from 2010 to 2020 show that (1) carbon emission trading rights have significantly improved the total factor productivity of agricultural enterprises; (2) green innovation in carbon emission trading rights have an impact on the total factor productivity of agricultural enterprises; and (3) heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect of carbon emission trading rights on the total factor productivity of agricultural enterprises mainly exists in large-scale, nonstate-owned, high-debt enterprises, enterprises in the eastern region, and enterprises with government subsidies. Therefore, in the future, China should continue to implement the current carbon emission trading rights system in air pollution control, and at the same time, it needs to be supplemented by government intervention and other means for long-term governance. In conclusion, the study provides a reference value for promoting the realization of the long-term goal of “low carbon” and “high quality” green development of agricultural economy and for making reasonable and effective behavioral decisions for the survival and development of enterprises.

Environmental regulation is an institutional guarantee for achieving green and sustainable economic development, and the implementation effect of environmental regulation policies is a concern for all sectors of society. This paper empirically examines the impact of environmental regulation on firms’ environmental governance behavior using a double difference model with the help of a quasi-natural experiment, the new Environmental Protection Law, and analyzes the mediating effect of central environmental protection inspectors using data from listed companies in China from 2011 to 2020. It was found that environmental regulation significantly enhances firms’ motivation to participate in environmental governance and central environmental protection inspectors play a mediating role in the impact of environmental regulation on firms’ environmental governance behavior. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis shows that the enhancement effect of environmental regulation on firms’ environmental governance behavior mainly exists in large-scale firms and nonstate enterprises.