Does environmental management system foster corporate green innovation? The moderating effect of environmental regulation

ABSTRACTGreen innovation is essential for addressing climate change and environmental deterioration challenges. We focus on whether and how environmental management systems (EMS), in particular, the ISO 14001 standard, influences corporate green innovation by considering the moderating role of environmental regulation. With a sample of the top 100 listed companies in China from 2008 to 2012, we find that EMS is significantly positively correlated with corporate green innovation and that environmental regulation strengthens this relationship. Thus, this research provides an important contribution to the literature on green innovation, environment management and emerging economies.