This study regards China's regional carbon trading pilot schemes as a quasi-natural experimental scenario, and adopts the double-difference (DID) estimation model to carry out an in-depth exploration of the impact results, operational paths and differential traits generated by this policy on the sustainable development performance reflected in corporate ESG dimensions. The empirical outcomes of the investigation indicate that the carbon emission trading mechanism can markedly elevate the comprehensive ESG rating levels of enterprise subjects. Its internal logic is realized through a composite mechanism of "external supervision-internal value creation-capital coordination", that is, while the policy strengthens market attention and reputation supervision, it promotes the transformation of ESG from compliance cost to development capital by improving green profitability and alleviating financing constraints. Heterogeneity analysis shows that there are structural differences in policy effects, which are particularly significant in non-capital-intensive, non-heavy-polluting enterprises and those with CEO duality separation, reflecting the moderating role of resource flexibility and governance efficiency. From the perspective of transmission mechanism and heterogeneity, this study reveals the internal process of market-oriented environmental regulation reshaping the resource and incentive structure of enterprises, and provides empirical evidence for improving carbon market design and implementing differentiated ESG strategies.

This study examines how sudden negative public opinion events and the timing of corporate public relations (PR) responses affect firms' financing costs. Using a firm-year panel of 24 publicly listed automotive and related companies from 2015 to 2024, we conceptualize negative public opinion events as reputational shocks that increase information uncertainty and are priced by capital markets. Financing cost is measured at the firm level using the weighted average cost of capital (WACC), capturing the aggregate risk premium demanded by external capital providers. Employing panel regression models with firm-level controls, we find that sudden negative public opinion events significantly increase corporate financing costs. More importantly, we document a significant negative association between PR response speed and financing costs, indicating that slower, more deliberate responses are associated with more favorable financing conditions following a crisis. These findings challenge the conventional crisis-management view that faster responses are always optimal. Instead, the results suggest that in contexts characterized by high informational uncertainty, premature responses may amplify perceived risk, whereas cautious response timing can mitigate financing penalties. This study contributes to the corporate finance and crisis communication literature by providing empirical evidence on how communication strategy shapes debt market pricing and by highlighting the context-dependent role of response speed in managing reputational shocks.

Carbon neutrality is currently accelerating the decarbonization process in the power sector. However, China, the United States, and the European Union are taking significantly different transformation paths. This article uses an energy economics framework to link binding system constraints, policy combinations, and the overall system costs to compare the differences among the three countries. This analysis integrates evidence from international assessments and peer-reviewed studies regarding the value and flexibility of variable renewable energy (VRE). The results show that as the share of renewable energy increases, economic bottlenecks shift from generation costs to flexibility and grid transmission: the marginal market value of wind and solar energy decreases as penetration rates increase, while the value of dispatchable system services increases. The EU's total control and trading system and market integration enhance long-term scarcity expectations, but without appropriate hedging designs, they increase the risk of short-term price fluctuations. The United States relies more on technology-neutral tax credits to reduce capital costs and accelerate deployment in the absence of a national carbon price. China combines large-scale clean infrastructure construction with continuous coal supply guarantees, which makes flexibility compensation, inter-provincial transmission, and reliable emission limits key to achieving cost-effective decarbonization. For China, the policy impact lies in regarding flexibility as a decarbonization asset, strengthening market signals through improved monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV), and reducing power outages through grid and market reforms.

Based on monthly data spanning June 2015 to June 2025, this paper constructs a VAR model that includes the stock market (SSE Composite Index return), foreign exchange market (RMB exchange rate movement), trade policy uncertainty (TPU), U.S. Federal Funds Rate and China's GDP growth rate to systematically examine the dynamic impact of trade policy uncertainty on China's financial market in the context of the U.S.-China trade friction mechanism. The study employs multiple breakpoint analyses (signing of the first-stage agreement in January 2020) and robustness tests and synthesizes the Granger causality test, impulse response analysis and variance decomposition. Research reveals that TPU serves as a Granger cause in China's financial markets. Its shocks exert a significant negative impact on the stock market, manifesting as "short-term amplification and long-term convergence" following escalations in trade friction. TPU's explanatory power over financial market volatility increases with friction intensification (boosting stock market volatility by approximately 8% on average and contributing up to 12% to exchange rate fluctuations). Notably, the transmission mechanism shows pronounced phase heterogeneity.