Carbon emission reduction under import competition: a green breakthrough or burdened endeavor?

In the dual context of trade liberalization and the low-carbon transition, understanding how import competition shapes corporate carbon emissions has become a critical question. This study introduces an innovative “dual-track competition” framework and uses panel data of Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2023 to examine the impact of import competition on corporate carbon emissions, yielding four key findings: First, import competition significantly increases firms’ carbon emissions. Second,