Research on Energy Conservation and Emission-Reduction Effects of Green Finance: Evidence from China

The energy-saving and low-carbon development model is one of the important symbols of high-quality economic development. This article attempts to study the environmental effects of green finance from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, that is, to test whether green finance policies contrib...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSustainability Vol. 16; no. 8; p. 3257
Main Authors Jiang, Runnan, Jin, Chengxiao, Wang, Haoyu
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.04.2024
Subjects
Carbon
China
Climate change
Economic development
Efficiency
Emissions
Emissions (Pollution)
Energy conservation
Energy consumption
Energy industry
Environmental law
Environmental policy
Environmental protection
Environmental regulations
Financial instruments
Pollution
Spillover effect
Sustainable development
China
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Summary:The energy-saving and low-carbon development model is one of the important symbols of high-quality economic development. This article attempts to study the environmental effects of green finance from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, that is, to test whether green finance policies contribute to achieving energy conservation and emission reduction. This article is based on provincial panel data from 2007 to 2020 in China and constructs a dynamic spatial Durbin model to examine the impact of green finance on environmental pollution and energy intensity. The results indicate that (1) green finance can achieve a dual effect of energy conservation and emission reduction simultaneously and has a significant promoting effect on energy conservation and emission reduction in neighboring regions. This conclusion is still valid after conducting robustness tests. (2) The energy-saving and emission-reduction effects of green finance exhibit significant regional heterogeneity, indicating that the performance of green finance is more outstanding in the eastern region with a higher level of economic development. (3) Mechanism testing has found that green finance can achieve energy-saving and emission-reduction effects through four channels: environmental regulation, credit allocation, enterprise profits, and enterprise innovation. Therefore, in order to further promote high-quality economic development, we need to build a comprehensive and multi-level green finance system, enrich the green finance policy toolbox, and smooth the transmission channels of green finance to promote green and stable economic development.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su16083257