Systematic Green Transformation Brought by Environmental System Reform: Evidence from Environmental Courts and Environmental Information Disclosure of Polluting Enterprises in China

The reporting of environmental information by companies is central to improving corporate transparency, advancing sustainable development, and enhancing competitiveness. Taking the establishment of environmental courts as a quasi-natural experiment, this study demonstrates that environmental system reform significantly encourages polluting companies to improve the quality of their environmental information disclosure. The mechanism is that environmental courts force polluting companies to carry out systematic green transformation. Specifically, polluting companies hire executives with environmental backgrounds and develop green technologies. Further analysis indicates that environmental courts exhibit heterogeneous effects at the regional and industry levels. Enhanced regional ecological incentives, improved regional legal institution, and intensified industry competition effectively facilitate the effect of environmental courts.