Search Results (10)

Rural revitalization constitutes a vital strategic initiative in advancing China’s socialist modernization. At the 2023 Central Economic Work Conference, the objective of building China into a financial powerhouse was formally articulated, thereby establishing higher benchmarks for financial support of rural revitalization. A critical question arising from this agenda is how to simultaneously advance agricultural technological innovation while effectively implementing green development principles. Accordingly, it is essential to investigate the role of the integrated development of sci-tech finance and green finance in promoting rural revitalization. Against this backdrop, this study employs provincial-level panel data from China spanning the period from 2011 to 2021. A two-way fixed effects model is adopted to examine the impact of the integrated development of sci-tech finance and green finance on rural revitalization. The analysis identifies three primary transmission mechanisms: financial supply, green agricultural development, and linkages between smallholder farmers and modern agriculture. Furthermore, the study explores heterogeneity across different financial environments from two dimensions: the level of digital inclusive finance development and the intensity of financial regulation. The empirical results indicate that (1) the integrated development of sci-tech finance and green finance significantly promotes rural revitalization, exhibiting a nonlinear effect whereby its catalytic impact intensifies markedly once the coupling coordination between the two surpasses a critical threshold; (2) such integration alleviates rural financing constraints, enhances agricultural green total factor productivity, and facilitates rural revitalization through the establishment of green agricultural cooperatives; and (3) the enhanced impact of this holistic progress is particularly noticeable in areas with advanced digital financial inclusion and robust financial oversight. In light of these results, this research puts forth three policy suggestions. First, institutional and policy preparations for integrating green finance and sci-tech finance should be accelerated through coordinated government policies, financial product innovation, and financial market reforms. Second, the channels through which sci-tech finance and green finance support rural revitalization should be strengthened by expanding agricultural credit, improving the coverage of rural financial institutions, and fostering specialized green agricultural cooperatives. Third, the financial ecosystem should be optimized by prioritizing investment in digital infrastructure and reinforcing financial supervision throughout the development of digital inclusive finance, particularly in rural regions. Full article

As a pioneering initiative in the advancement of green finance, China’s Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot Zone (GFPZ) offers critical empirical and theoretical insights for the development of a global green financial system. While existing studies highlight the GFPZ’s role in promoting pollution reduction within designated regions, it remains unclear whether its effects extend along supply chains. Exploiting the GFPZ policy as a quasi-natural experiment and employing a difference-in-differences (DID) approach, this study uses panel data from A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges in China from 2013 to 2021 to assess its impact. The findings reveal the following: (1) The GFPZ significantly reduces emissions not only among focal heavily polluting firms but also across their upstream and downstream partners. (2) The primary transmission channel is a financing penalty spillover, whereby the policy intensifies financing constraints and reduces credit access for supply chain firms, compelling them to scale down operations. Notably, the evidence does not support the presence of a Porter effect. (3) Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the spillover effect is more pronounced among upstream suppliers and firms with stronger green capacities, while excessive government subsidies tend to weaken the transmission of policy impacts. Full article

The rapid proliferation of fintech has created unprecedented opportunities for enhancing bank credit-risk management and promoting financial sustainability. Using an unbalanced panel dataset of Chinese commercial banks spanning 2013–2023, we construct a bank-specific fintech index through text mining of annual reports combined with an entropy-weighted methodology, and systematically examine the relationship between fintech adoption and credit risk. Our empirical findings reveal that fintech adoption significantly mitigates credit risk, reducing the non-performing loan ratio by an average of 0.9 percentage points. This effect is more pronounced among non-state-owned banks and in regions with less developed service sectors. Mechanism analysis further demonstrates that financial sustainability is a critical transmission mechanism: fintech mitigates credit risk by improving both cost efficiency and asset efficiency, thereby enhancing banks’ economic resilience. Additionally, we find that regional green development is a powerful moderator that significantly amplifies the risk-reducing impact of fintech. These findings offer robust empirical evidence for guiding commercial banks’ digital transformation strategies and informing regulators’ green finance policy formulation. Our results underscore the strategic importance of fintech investment in building more resilient and sustainable banking systems. Full article

The 2012 Green Credit Guidelines (GCG) release is used as a quasi-natural experiment in this study, which employs a sample of Chinese A-share-listed businesses from 2008 to 2023. We use the difference-in-differences method to examine the impact of enacting green credit policies on corporate carbon information disclosure. The findings demonstrate that green credit policies affect carbon information disclosure through several channels: the signal transmission effect, the external pressure effect, and the environmental ethics effect. Furthermore, market competition has exerted a positive influence on the implementation of these policies. The heterogeneity results suggest that the policies’ beneficial impact is more significant in non-state-owned enterprises, firms with substantial financial constraints, and non-high-tech firms. Additionally, the study finds that increased disclosure of carbon information can elevate firm value and reduce audit fees. These findings contribute to theoretical research on green credit policies and carbon information disclosure, offering important guidance for relevant authorities in standardizing green credit operations and promoting carbon information transparency. Full article

We investigate the impact of green credit policies on pollution-intensive enterprises from a new perspective. Empirically, we utilize the issuance of China’s green credit policy in 2012 to construct a quasi-natural experiment. The results show that green credit policies can significantly reduce the market value of pollution-intensive enterprises. Furthermore, our analysis of profitability and R&D investment shows that the decline in market value is driven by real financial deterioration rather than short-term investor reactions. The results indicate that green credit policies can effectively suppress pollution-intensive enterprises. Additionally, the results also suggest that China’s stock market reasonably prices environmental risks. Full article

In the process of China’s path to modernization, the concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature has become increasingly prominent. In the dual context of the development of human society and the improvement of ecological wellbeing, how to reasonably exert environmental regulation policies to actively address the problem of ecological overload has become an important challenge that we need to face urgently. Therefore, based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2021, this paper uses the three-dimensional ecological footprint model to evaluate the degree of interference of human activities on the ecological level and selects the difference-in-differences model to examine the impact of external policy shocks, namely, a carbon emissions trading pilot (CETP) policy, on ecological pressure and its transmission mechanism. The results show that moderate government intervention, unified market regulation, and positive industrial response jointly enhance the mitigation effect of CETP on ecological pressure. In areas with strong environmental regulation and a high level of green credit, the incentive effect of the carbon trading mechanism is more significant. In the context of the transformation from industrial civilization to ecological civilization, the findings provide practical guidance and paths for how regions and enterprises can effectively respond to CETP and how governments, markets, and industries can jointly reduce the ecological pressure on the environment. Full article

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. Full article

This paper focuses on the relationship between green credit and industrial green total factor productivity under the dual carbon target. In recent years, weather extremes that break historical extremes have occurred frequently around the world, and the resulting loss of life and property has deepened people’s concern about climate change. As a responsible developing country, China has set the goal of reaching peak carbon emissions and reducing carbon intensity by 60–65% by 2030. In this context, based on China’s provincial-level data from 2006 to 2019, this paper first measures the growth rate of industrial green total factor productivity using the SBM-ML model, and then analyzes the impact of green credit on industrial green total factor productivity under the double carbon target by constructing the transmission mechanism of the energy consumption structure and the regulation mechanism of environmental regulation on green credit. We then analyze the impact of green credit on industrial green total factor productivity under the dual carbon target by constructing the transmission mechanism of the energy consumption structure and the regulation mechanism of environmental regulation on green credit. We find that green credit can improve the energy consumption structure and thus increase industrial green total factor productivity. In addition, the study finds that the interaction effect of green credit and environmental regulation suppresses the positive impact of green credit on industrial green TFP. This paper provides empirical evidence and policy implications for the orderly promotion of carbon peaking and carbon neutral efforts to effectively improve industrial green total factor productivity and promote high-quality economic development. Full article

To achieve China’s new development pattern and the “dual carbon” goals, it is necessary to boost emission reduction and high-quality economic development simultaneously. Green credit (GC), consisting of environmental regulation and economic leverage, has a profound impact on improving total factor carbon emission performance (TFCEP). By selecting the panel data of 30 provinces and municipalities in China from 2001 to 2020, this paper constructs a series of panel models to analyze the transmission path of GC to TFCEP. The results indicate that the relationship between GC and TFCEP showed an “inverted-U-shaped” relationship. This is mainly because “energy-saving and emission reduction” first appeared in the government planning outline in 2006, and transition-friendly enterprises successfully transformed with low-interest green credit, thereby effectively improving their TFCEP. However, as environmental regulations continue to increase and the scale of green credit continues to expand, the efficiency of green credit allocation and internal conflicts with other environmental regulation policies are also emerging. At the same time, the advancement of industrial structure and green technology innovation had a significant mediating effect between GC and TFCEP; government quality has a strong moderating effect on the second stage of the mediating process. When GC reaches a certain scale, it tends to restrain TFCEP more in central and western China than in eastern China. Therefore, it is of great significance to continuously increase the scale of GC, promote the advancement of clean energy industrial structure, and improve green technology innovation. Full article

Green development is an inevitable trend of sustainable development: how does it affect green economic growth as the main channel of green project financing and the core force of building a green financial system? The present article measures the relationship between green credit and sustainable economic growth using a benchmark regression analysis model and explores the main influencing factors and regional characteristics that affect the coupling development of green credit and sustainable economic growth by combining mechanism and heterogeneity tests. The results of the study show that: (i) Green credit has a significant positive contribution to sustainable economic growth. (ii) In terms of the transmission mechanism, industrial upgrading and environmental regulation have a significant impact on sustainable economic growth. (iii) In terms of heterogeneity, the effect of green credit on sustainable economic growth is the most pronounced in the west, followed by the central and eastern regions of China. The policy implications of this study are that green credit in China is an inevitable trend, and that a sound policy supporting the legal system and information communication mechanisms should be promulgated to ensure the effective allocation of resources, thereby promoting the coordinated, sustainable and stable development of environmental protection and the economy. Full article