Regional environmental and energy policies: are they effective for the sustainable transition of listed companies?

We test the effectiveness of environmental and energy policies, complying with legal requirements and followed voluntarily, on endeavours towards green and energy transitions. With this aim, a sample of Italian listed firms in the period 2008–19 is investigated. The empirical framework is developed by means of a propensity score matching analysis with multiple treatments, implemented in both a panel data and cross-sectional contexts. Our results show that regional interventions operate as a push/pull mechanism in driving companies to be more environmentally friendly. This is important for identification of policy-driven changes which make some regions more successful than others in sustainability transition.