Driving Innovation, Empowering Service: How Carbon Emission Trading Policy Spurs Green Transformation in Manufacturing Enterprises

Driven by the "dual carbon" strategic goals and the low-carbon restructuring of global industrial chains, green transformation has become a critical pathway for China's manufacturing industry to gain competitive advantages. Using the carbon emission trading pilot launched in 2013 as a quasi-natural experiment and leveraging data from A-share listed manufacturing companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2007 to 2022, this study systematically examines the impact mechanism of carbon emission trading policies on the green transformation of manufacturing enterprises from a value chain perspective. The findings reveal that the pilot policy for carbon emission trading significantly drives manufacturing enterprises to achieve green transformation through dual pathways that not only promote enterprises to ascend to upstream green innovation segments in the value chain but also facilitates their expansion into downstream service business segments. Mechanism analysis indicates that increased R&D funding and deepened customer engagement are the core pathways driving green innovation and service extension respectively, while the application of digital technologies and executives' overseas experience play positive moderating roles. Heterogeneity analysis shows the policy effects are more pronounced in equipment manufacturing enterprises, high-tech manufacturing enterprises, and state-owned manufacturing enterprises. This research provides important theoretical support and empirical evidence for optimizing policy design for carbon emission trading, and promoting the green and high-end development of the manufacturing industry.