The Impact of Environmental Incentive Policies on the Value of New Energy Enterprises—Evidence from China’s New Energy Demonstration Cities

The world is facing increasingly severe environmental challenges, making the development of new energy a crucial trend for the future. The corporate value of new energy enterprises plays a vital role in their sustainable growth. Current environmental regulations predominantly rely on punitive measures, with limited use of incentive-based policies. This study examines China’s New Energy Demonstration City (NEDC) policy, employing panel data from listed new energy firms (2010–2023) and a difference-in-differences (DID) approach to quantify incentive-based policies effects. The results demonstrate that the NEDC policy significantly enhances the corporate value of new energy enterprises, the findings are robust to multiple tests. The policy’s impact exhibits notable heterogeneity: state-owned enterprises (SOEs), large firms and firms in regions with stringent environmental regulations benefit more. Mechanism analysis reveals that the policy alleviates financing constraints and encourages green transformation, thereby boosting corporate value. This study provides empirical evidence supporting incentive-based environmental policies.