Examining the Coordination Between Green Finance and Green Economy Aiming for Sustainable Development: A Case Study of China

Green finance (GF) regards social responsibility and environmental protection interests as the core of development and has become a new growth point and a new engine for promoting the development of the green economy (GE). To more accurately grasp the coordination between GF and the GE, the selection of appropriate indicators and feasible methods is worth exploring. Aiming at sustainable development by evaluating the coupling coordination between GF and the GE by means of a comprehensive index system and an integrated approach, this study establishes a coupling coordination degree model based on panel data of 30 Chinese provinces over the period 2007–2016. Furthermore, it evaluates the spatial distribution difference and dynamic evolution trend of the coordination by introducing global/local spatial autocorrelation, a space Markov chain, and a local indicators of spatial association (LISA) Markov chain. According to the research results, the coupling coordination degrees of the provinces exhibit gradual upward trends, and most regions in China are in a barely coordinated state at present. The coordination degree of GF and the GE shows strong spatial dependence overall, and partially presents the characteristics of “high-high (HH)” and “low-low (LL)” clustering patterns. The forecast results show that the future coordination of GF and the GE will remain stable and be affected by the coordinated development of surrounding areas.