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China Population, Resources and Environment >

2026 , Vol. 36 >Issue 3: 79 - 88

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12062/cpre.20250331

Voluntary environmental regulation policies and the improvement of enterprise capacity utilization: evidence from green factory construction

  • SUN Peng ,
  • LIU Xiangyue ,
  • HAN Songchen
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  • School of International Business, Hainan University, Haikou Hainan 570228, China

Received date: 2024-11-18

  Revised date: 2025-06-07

  Online published: 2026-06-05

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Abstract

Capacity utilization is a critical factor influencing the high-quality development of enterprises. Previous studies have pre-dominantly focused on the improvement effects of environmental regulation policies based on command-and-control or market incen-tives on enterprise capacity utilization, with limited attention given to voluntary environmental regulation policies. The impact of green factory construction, a novel tool for voluntary environmental regulation, on enterprise capacity utilization warrants further investigation. Based on data from A-share listed manufacturing companies from 2010 to 2023, this study employed a multi-period difference-in-differ-ences (DID) model to empirically examine the impact of green factory policies on enterprise capacity utilization. The findings indicated that: ① Green factory policies significantly enhanced enterprise capacity utilization, and this conclusion remainesd robust after a series of robustness tests. ② Mechanism analysis revealed that green factory policies primarily improved enterprise capacity utilization through three channels: reducing inefficient investment, curbing financialization tendencies, and enhancing the quality of information disclosure. ③ Heterogeneity analysis demonstrated that green factory policies exerted a more pronounced promoting effect on enterprise capacity utilization in non-resource-based cities, enterprises with weaker market power, and capital-intensive industries. ④ Further in-vestigation indicated that the combined implementation of voluntary and command-and-control environmental regulation policies could generate policy synergies, thereby more effectively improving enterprise capacity utilization. However, the synergistic effect between voluntary environmental regulation and market-based or public participation-based environmental regulation policies yielded less signif-icant results. To facilitate the high-quality development of manufacturing enterprises, governments should further promote and refine voluntary environmental regulation policies while coordinating the use of both voluntary and command-and-control regulatory tools. Ad-ditionally, governments should support enterprises in more efficiently understanding and meeting green factory assessment require-ments by providing services such as policy guidance and resource integration to promote enterprises to address overcapacity issues and achieve sustainable green development. This study contributes micro-level empirical evidence for the theoretical exploration of the eco-nomic effects of voluntary environmental regulation policies and provides practical insights into resolving overcapacity challenges in the manufacturing sector.

Key words： voluntary environmental regulation; green factory; enterprise capacity utilization; high-quality development of enterprises; policy synergistic effect

Cite this article

SUN Peng , LIU Xiangyue , HAN Songchen . Voluntary environmental regulation policies and the improvement of enterprise capacity utilization: evidence from green factory construction[J]. China Population, Resources and Environment, 2026 , 36(3) : 79 -88 . DOI: 10.12062/cpre.20250331

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