Environmental innovation is an important force driving the development of a green and low‐carbon economy, and close supervision can assist the government in guiding firms' environmental innovation behavior. Based on institutional theory, we construct a model of the relationship between regulatory distance, environmental information disclosure, social trust, and firms' environmental innovation. We analyze a sample of 577 private A‐share listed manufacturing companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2012 to 2022 using multiple regression analysis to test the impact of regulatory distance on firms' environmental innovation. We also consider the mediating effect of environmental information disclosure and the moderating effect of social trust. The results show that an increase in regulatory distance has a negative impact on environmental innovation. Environmental information disclosure plays a partial mediating role between regulatory distance and environmental innovation, and social trust can weaken the negative impact of regulatory distance on environmental innovation. We propose various suggestions based on our findings to promote active environmental innovation by firms.

中文翻译：

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监管距离与企业环境创新：环境信息披露与社会信任的作用

环境创新是推动绿色低碳经济发展的重要力量，严密的监管可以协助政府引导企业的环境创新行为。基于制度理论，我们构建了监管距离、环境信息披露、社会信任与企业环境创新之间关系的模型。我们以2012年至2022年上海和深圳证券交易所577家民营A股上市制造企业为样本，采用多元回归分析来检验监管距离对企业环境创新的影响。我们还考虑了环境信息披露的中介作用和社会信任的调节作用。结果表明，监管距离的增加对环境创新产生负面影响。环境信息披露在监管距离与环境创新之间起部分中介作用，社会信任可以减弱监管距离对环境创新的负面影响。我们根据我们的研究结果提出了各种建议，以促进企业积极的环境创新。