Influence of the national green mine pilot policy on corporate green innovation

The development of green mines represents a pivotal measure within the mining sector for implementing the dual-mountain philosophy and cultivating new productive forces. The former Ministry of Land and Resources launched the national green mine pilot policy in 2010, aiming to foster high-quality development in mining through the establishment of exemplary mining enterprises. This paper employs a progressive difference-in-differences（DID） method to empirically examine the impact and mechanism of the national green mine pilot policy on corporate green innovation, utilizing data from Chinese mining enterprises listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share markets between 2006 and 2022. Findings reveal that the national green mine pilot policy significantly enhances corporate green innovation levels. This conclusion remains robust after a series of stability tests, providing fresh micro-level evidence for the applicability of the “Porter Hypothesis” within China’s specific context. Mechanism analysis indicates the policy promotes green innovation through dual pathways: firstly, leveraging green certification’s signaling function to mitigate capital market information asymmetry and financing constraints, thereby facilitating external funding for green R&D; secondly, reducing green innovation costs and financial risks via supplementary channels such as environmental subsidies and tax incentives. Heterogeneity studies reveal that the policy’s green incentive effects exhibit significant divergence influenced by variations in mineral resource endowment, position within the industrial chain, pollution intensity, and factor intensity. Notably, the innovation compensation effect is more pronounced in the oil and gas sector, smelting and processing enterprises, heavily polluting enterprises, and capital- and labor-intensive enterprises. This study enriches the micro-level evidence demonstrating how market-based environmental regulatory tools can promote corporate green innovation, providing empirical evidence and policy references for optimizing green mine incentive mechanisms and advancing high-quality development in the mining sector.