Will informal environmental regulation induce residents to form a green lifestyle? Evidence from China

Promoting green transition in social life and consumption is an effective way to achieve the goal of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality". The current academic community has paid extensive attention to the green way of production while not paying enough attention to the green transition of lifestyles. The relevant empirical studies on the theme of green lifestyles are rare. Based on the annual panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2008 to 2019, this study investigates the nexus between informal environmental regulation (IER) and residents' green lifestyles. It has been found that IER can directly influence the formation of green lifestyles. It can also positively influence residents' green lifestyles by raising public environmental awareness. At the same time, the regional green technology innovation level positively modifies the influence of IER on green lifestyles. In addition, this paper also examines the impact of environmental regulation on people's green level of lifestyle under different income levels. Through the dominance analysis, it is also found that IER has a more significant impact on the formation of residents' green lifestyles than formal environmental regulation. This study attempts to open the "black box" of IER to guide residents to form a green lifestyle while providing a reference for the government to guide residents to form a green lifestyle and policy formulation.