Environmental governance, executive incentive, and enterprise performance: Evidence from Chinese mineral enterprises

The goal of China's development by 2035 is the widespread formation of green production and lifestyle. Enterprise is the most crucial micro subject in realizing a fundamental improvement in the ecological environment. However, corporate environmental governance has typical externalities regarding corporate profitability, especially for mining companies. This paper explores the relationship between enterprise environmental governance and enterprise performance from multi-dimensions based on the manually-collected microdata of 194 listed enterprises in the mining industry in Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares from 2010 to 2016 (the corporate environmental data is provided up to 2016). This study's findings are as follows. (1) Enterprise environmental governance facilitates short-term enterprise performance, which verifies the “Porter hypothesis.” (2) The five sub-dimensions of enterprise environmental governance have an “enhancing effect” on short-term enterprise performance and a “decreasing effect” on long-term enterprise performance. (3) Moderating effect analysis shows that “executive compensation incentive” leads enterprise environmental governance to improve long- and short-term enterprise performances. In contrast, “equity incentive” inhibits its effect on short-term enterprise performance. (4) Environmental governance in state-owned enterprises significantly contributes to short-term performance. In non-state-owned enterprises, it significantly reduces long-term enterprise performance. Finally, corresponding policy implications and future research directions were recommended. Future initiatives must strengthen incentives for green innovation, accelerate the substitution of new energy sources, promote the green and digital transformation of mining enterprises, and improve carbon finance in the carbon market.