Urban green technology transfer networks and green finance development: Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta, China

On the basis of green patent transfer data from 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region and green credit data from five major state-owned banks from 2015 to 2023, this study employs social network analysis and a geographical detector model to examine the spatiotemporal dynamics and systemic coupling between green technology diffusion and green finance development. We document the following key findings: (1) the green technology transfer network has expanded, with Hefei surpassing Shanghai as the core hub, and intensive green technology flows being concentrated in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, and Hefei; (2) while green finance has grown substantially, it remains spatially concentrated around Shanghai, leading to a persistent core–periphery divide; (3) the coordination between cities' positions in the technology network and their green finance levels has declined, except in Shanghai, indicating a growing structural mismatch; and (4) factor detection results from the geographical detector indicate that green finance policies act as an independent driving force for the green technology transfer network. Furthermore, interaction detection demonstrates that green finance exerts a stronger influence when it is jointly driven by the urban financial scale and market vitality.