Improving corporate carbon performance is imperative for sustainable economic and social development. Using a sample of Chinese A-share-listed manufacturing firms from 2012 to 2019, this study explores how government environmental subsidies affect corporate carbon performance. The baseline results show that government environmental subsidies are positively associated with corporate carbon performance, suggesting an improving effect of government environmental subsidies on corporate carbon performance. These results are robust to a set of sensitivity tests. Further, the channel analyses show that government environmental subsidies improve corporate carbon performance by alleviating financial constraints and enhancing environmental information disclosure. Moreover, cross-sectional analyses show that the improving effect of government environmental subsidies on corporate carbon performance is stronger in state-owned enterprises, in firms with higher executive environmental awareness, and in firms with higher media attention. This study provides meaningful insights for the government seeking to promote low-carbon development through environmental subsidies.
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