Environmental reporting

Ecology

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Environmental economics

China

Market competition

Accounting

Archaeology

Green innovation

Economics

Market economy

Computer science

Business

Computer network

Competition (biology)

Geography

Political science

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Content analysis

Environmental policy

Industrial organization

Resource (disambiguation)

Social science

Journal of Cleaner Production

Environmental innovation is an important approach to delivering a win-win situation for the economy and the environment. To explore the driving factors of enterprises’ environmental innovation, this study used the content analysis method, and selected 120 Shanghai A-share listed companies in six energy industries as samples. Through analysing their annual reports in 2016, we found that environmental regulation and fiscal and taxation measures were the main driving factors for the enterprise’s environmental innovation; market competition and customer demand had the effect on the enterprise’s environmental innovation; egoistic motives(cost saving, resource acquisition and risk avoidance) and green development value played the mediating role between environmental policy, industry competitive environment and environmental innovation. Finally, based on the conclusions of the study, we suggested to promote enterprises’ environmental innovation by enhancing the national policy guidance, promoting the industry’s transformation, and upgrading as well as enhancing the enterprises’ green development philosophy.

What drives environmental innovation? A content analysis of listed companies in China