Q28 - Renewable Resources and Conservation: Government PolicyReturn

Corporate greenwashing is increasingly posing a severe threat to effective implementation and evaluation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Apart from regulatory pressure, active participation of the public in environmental governance is essential in this regard. Through a theoretical and empirical lens, this study systematically examines the impact of public environmental attention (PEA) on corporate greenwashing and its underlying mechanism in the Chinese context. The data from A-share firms and the Baidu search index for prefecture-level cities from 2011 to 2020 are gathered and analysed using 2SLS and various robustness tests. Results show that PEA can significantly suppress corporate greenwashing. The effect is more significant in high-polluting industries, regions with better rule of law, firms with non-political connections and older executives with environmental backgrounds. Further analysis shows that PEA reduces greenwashing by inhibiting management's short-sighted behaviour and increasing analyst attention. Expanding the government's ecological concerns and strengthening environmental regulations enhance the inhibiting effect of PEA on greenwashing. The findings remain robust after a series of robustness and endogenous tests.

Currently, nations worldwide are actively promoting various environmental movements to address the ecological crisis. Among these, the most prominent is the Green New Deal (GND). However, during the development of the GND, some scholars have identified that its advancement may lead to more severe environmental problems. Therefore, this study constructs indicators for green economic development and the GND. Utilizing an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model and a Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) and based on panel data from 30 Chinese provinces spanning 2008 to 2021, it specifically analyzes the impact of the GND on green economic development. The study further examines the spatial effects and externality impacts of the GND. Additionally, green finance is selected as a mediating variable to further explore the relationship between the GND, green finance and green economic development, analyzing the mediating role that green finance plays between them.

The transition towards green and clean energy sources is the need of the day and a key target for several economies across the globe. Besides, emerging economies also aim to minimize fossil fuel dependence, promoting the adoption of green electricity. However, several obstacles, including governance, corruption and economic-related issues, are forthcoming in attaining sustainability in the context of green energy. This research examines seven emerging economies from 1990 to 2020. The study uses novel panel diagnostic assessment approaches, which validate the slope heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence and confirm the cointegration between the study variables. Employing the method of moments quantile regression, this research concludes that corruption and governance quality adversely influence the transition to green electricity. On the other hand, the influence of economic complexity, research and development expenditures and per capita GDP is positive and significant. These results are robust as validated by estimators such as mean group and fully modified ordinary least squares. Furthermore, a two-way Granger causality exists between regressors and green energy transition, which allows this research to offer appropriate policy implications. This study recommends improving institutions, strengthening bureaucracy, enhancing accountability and investing in research and development, green technologies and human capital to encourage green energy transition.

The article is focused on the total historical and future costs of supporting photovoltaic elektricity generation in the Czech Republic. The model estimation of these costs is accompanied by methodologically unified comparison with cost of the support of other renewable energy resources. We find that as long as the goals of Czech National Action Plan for Renewable Energy will be implemented, the costs on photovoltaics support will account for more than one half of all costs on renewable energy, combined production of electricity and heat and other secondary resources. The article also provides brief overview of the photovoltaic market in the Czech Republic with its past, present and possible future developments.