Regulatory effect of improving environmental information disclosure under environmental tax in China: From the perspectives of temporal and industrial heterogeneity

The environmental tax has been extensively examined as a well-accepted environmental policy. However, few studies have examined the regulatory effects of informal environmental regulation measures, such as environmental information disclosure (EID) under environmental taxes. This study uses an environmental computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to test this effect in China empirically. Our results show that improvements in EID have a “double dividend” regulatory effect of strengthening pollutant emissions reduction and stimulating economic growth under environmental taxes, but this effect displays significant temporal and industrial heterogeneities. The enhancing effect of EID on exhaust gas emissions reduction is more significant in the short run (−0.08% for SO2; −0.08% for NOX), whereas its economic stimulus effect is more prominent in the long run (0.09% for GDP). Nevertheless, improved EID has a weakening effect on wastewater discharge reduction. Improved EID quality can improve output for 64% and 93% of industries in the short and long term, respectively. However, significant non-uniformity is observed. In addition, improved EID quality can cause the energy consumption structure to shift from high-emissions coal toward other relatively cleaner alternatives in the long run. The study highlights that EID would be a beneficial supplement to formal environmental regulation measures.