Impacts of green taxation on the green transformation of manufacturing industry: an empirical analysis based on Chinese provincial panel data

In the face of escalating environmental challenges, manufacturing industries encounter significant hurdles in transitioning to green and low-carbon practices. This study addresses these challenges by examining the measurement of green total factor productivity (GTFP) through the super-efficiency SBM model and GML index. Key factors such as innovation, technology, and environmental legislation serve as intermediaries, with green taxation identified as a pivotal element, and GTFP as the primary variable. Industrial structure and economic openness function as control variables. The research findings reveal that green taxation, acting both directly and indirectly, positively impacts the green manufacturing sector. By elevating costs and inadvertently fostering innovation and environmental compliance, it reshapes industry dynamics, propelling a paradigm shift toward green intensification. While the industrial structure significantly contributes to this transformation, economic openness emerges as a hindrance, necessitating a reconsideration of foreign investment regulations for China's sustainable development.