Does excessive debt affect the green technology innovation? Evidence from China

A reasonable leverage ratio is conducive to the sustainable development of the enterprise. During the green transformation stage of China's economic structure, improving the relevant credit policies to support green development has become an urgent need for the relevant government departments in China. This study first systematically analyzes the influence of excessive debt on green technology innovation (GTI) using the data of China A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2020. The empirical results showed that the excessive debt of enterprises significantly restricted their GTI. Excessive debt had a significant negative impact on the GTI of non-state owned enterprises (non-SOEs) and enterprises that did not implement the ISO 14001 environmental management system (EMS) certification. However, its impact on SOEs and enterprises adopted the ISO 14001 EMS was insignificant. The excessive debt mainly inhibited enterprise innovation by affecting the R&D investment of enterprises and raising the debt cost of enterprises. This study supplemented the relevant studies on the economic consequences of corporate debt deviation with different enterprises.