IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v240y2025ics0960148124022808.html

Energy-environmental efficiency enhancement using green finance through spatio-temporal heterogeneity and dynamic regulatory mechanisms: Multiple perspectives study

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Jinyue
  • Sun, Zhenglin

Abstract

In contrast to the extant literature, this paper innovatively classifies energy-environmental efficiency into comprehensive and pure forms. Based on the panel data of 284 prefectural-level cities in China spanning from 2007 to 2020, it proceeds to explore the spatial spillover effect of green finance on energy-environmental efficiency as well as its influence mechanism. The study reveals that: (1) Green finance makes a significant contribution to energy-environmental efficiency, manifesting in both its comprehensive and pure forms. Notably, green finance exerts a more pronounced impact on the enhancement of pure energy-environmental efficiency, which is 5.5 times higher than that of the comprehensive energy-environmental efficiency. (2) The development of green finance has a significant positive spatial spillover effect on both the comprehensive energy-environmental efficiency and the pure energy-environmental efficiency. (3) Environmental regulation has an inverted U-shaped moderating effect on the interaction between green finance and energy-environmental efficiency. (4) An increased financial development level enables green finance to significantly enhance energy-environmental efficiency after crossing a single threshold. (5) The green finance reform and innovation pilot zone policy improves the energy-environmental efficiency of both local and neighboring areas, demonstrating a significant positive spatial spillover effect. This positive spatial spillover effect is more pronounced in cities in the eastern region and resource-based cities. The conclusions of this study provide a scientific decision-making basis for optimizing financial services in China's green energy and low-carbon transition.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Jinyue & Sun, Zhenglin, 2025. "Energy-environmental efficiency enhancement using green finance through spatio-temporal heterogeneity and dynamic regulatory mechanisms: Multiple perspectives study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:240:y:2025:i:c:s0960148124022808
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2024.122212
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148124022808
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2024.122212?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lee, Chi-Chuan & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2022. "How does green finance affect green total factor productivity? Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    2. Ma, Mengjuan & Zhu, Xiao & Liu, Meishan & Huang, Xiaodong, 2023. "Combining the role of green finance and environmental sustainability on green economic growth: Evidence from G-20 economies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 128-136.
    3. Kai Dong & Shaonan Wang & Hengqiang Hu & Ningning Guan & Xiaolei Shi & Ye Song, 2024. "Financial development, carbon dioxide emissions, and sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(1), pages 348-366, February.
    4. Huang, Fei & Ren, Yuheng, 2024. "Harnessing the green frontier: The impact of green finance reform and digitalization on corporate green innovation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    5. Huang, Hongyun & Mbanyele, William & Wang, Fengrong & Song, Malin & Wang, Yuzhang, 2022. "Climbing the quality ladder of green innovation: Does green finance matter?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    6. Liang, Shuai & Wang, Peng & Jia, Cunlu & Zhu, Jialan, 2023. "Studying green financing, factor allocation efficiency, and regional productivity growth in renewable energy industries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 130-139.
    7. Yin, Qingwei, 2023. "Nexus among financial development and equity market on green economic finance: Fresh insights from European Union," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    8. Wang, Hongxia & Deng, Wenyueyang & Zhang, Zenglian & Li, Ming, 2024. "Does government's environmental attention improve urban energy efficiency?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    9. Zhao, Linhai & Chau, Ka Yin & Tran, Trung Kien & Sadiq, Muhammad & Xuyen, Nguyen Thi My & Phan, Thi Thu Hien, 2022. "Enhancing green economic recovery through green bonds financing and energy efficiency investments," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 488-501.
    10. Mohr, Robert D., 2002. "Technical Change, External Economies, and the Porter Hypothesis," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 158-168, January.
    11. Karen Palmer & Wallace E. Oates & Paul R. Portney & Karen Palmer & Wallace E. Oates & Paul R. Portney, 2004. "Tightening Environmental Standards: The Benefit-Cost or the No-Cost Paradigm?," Chapters, in: Environmental Policy and Fiscal Federalism, chapter 3, pages 53-66, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Sun, Yunpeng & Guan, Weimin & Cao, Yuning & Bao, Qun, 2022. "Role of green finance policy in renewable energy deployment for carbon neutrality: Evidence from China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 643-653.
    13. Matheus Pereira Libório & João Francisco Abreu & Petr Iakovlevitch Ekel & Alexei Manso Correa Machado, 2023. "Effect of sub-indicator weighting schemes on the spatial dependence of multidimensional phenomena," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 185-211, April.
    14. Li, Ke & Lin, Boqiang, 2018. "How to promote energy efficiency through technological progress in China?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 812-821.
    15. Guo, Qiu-tong & Dong, Yong & Feng, Biao & Zhang, Hao, 2023. "Can green finance development promote total-factor energy efficiency? Empirical evidence from China based on a spatial Durbin model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    16. Yong He & Hongyan Zuo & Nuo Liao, 2023. "Assessing the impact of reverse technology spillover of outward foreign direct investment on energy efficiency," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(5), pages 4385-4410, May.
    17. Shengrong Lu & Yanwu Wang, 2015. "Convergence, technological interdependence and spatial externalities: a spatial dynamic panel data analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(18), pages 1833-1846, April.
    18. Lianghu Wang & Jun Shao, 2024. "Environmental information disclosure and energy efficiency: empirical evidence from China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 4781-4800, February.
    19. Hansen, Bruce E., 1999. "Threshold effects in non-dynamic panels: Estimation, testing, and inference," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 345-368, December.
    20. Nicolas Debarsy, 2012. "The Mundlak Approach in the Spatial Durbin Panel Data Model," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 109-131, March.
    21. Wang, Zhe & Yao-Ping Peng, Michael & Anser, Muhammad Khalid & Chen, Zhong, 2023. "Research on the impact of green finance and renewable energy on energy efficiency: The case study E−7 economies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 166-173.
    22. Xiong, Zhiqiao & Hu, Jin & Li, Wenfeng, 2024. "From policy to practice: Enhancing enterprise productivity through energy transition initiatives," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    23. Yang, Yimin, 2022. "A correlated random effects approach to the estimation of models with multiple fixed effects," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    24. Passas, Costas, 2023. "Standardized capital stock estimates for the Greek economy 1948–2020," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 236-244.
    25. Ouyang, Xiaoling & Li, Qiong & Du, Kerui, 2020. "How does environmental regulation promote technological innovations in the industrial sector? Evidence from Chinese provincial panel data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    26. Zhuanlan Sun & Demi Zhu, 2023. "Investigating environmental regulation effects on technological innovation: A meta-regression analysis," Energy & Environment, , vol. 34(3), pages 463-492, May.
    27. Wang, Hongzhi & Xiang, Xin & Han, Liang, 2023. "Financial development, legal systems and SME finance: Cross-country evidence," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 981-1002.
    28. Chang, Lei & Moldir, Mukan & Zhang, Yuan & Nazar, Raima, 2023. "Asymmetric impact of green bonds on energy efficiency: Fresh evidence from quantile estimation," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    29. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Wang, Chang-song & He, Zhiwen & Xing, Wen-wu & Wang, Keying, 2023. "How does green finance affect energy efficiency? The role of green technology innovation and energy structure," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(P1).
    30. Umar, Muhammad & Safi, Adnan, 2023. "Do green finance and innovation matter for environmental protection? A case of OECD economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    31. Zhang, Ning & Kong, Fanbin & Choi, Yongrok & Zhou, P., 2014. "The effect of size-control policy on unified energy and carbon efficiency for Chinese fossil fuel power plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 193-200.
    32. Qihang Xue & Huimin Wang & Caiquan Bai, 2023. "Local green finance policies and corporate ESG performance," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 23(4), pages 721-749, December.
    33. Yinhui Wang & Xiaodan Gao, 2024. "Mineral resource dependence and green transformation: the impact and challenges of green finance in Chinese cities," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    34. Yi, Hong & Hao, Ling & Liu, Aoran & Zhang, Ziyu, 2023. "Green finance development and resource efficiency: A financial structure perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    35. Chong-en Bai & Julan Du & Julan Du, 2020. "Property Rights, Finance, and Reinvestment: Evidence from China's Private Enterprises," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 21(2), pages 363-392, November.
    36. Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary & Naoyuki Yoshino, 2020. "Sustainable Solutions for Green Financing and Investment in Renewable Energy Projects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    37. Jing, Ruifeng & Liu, Ruizhi, 2024. "The impact of green finance on persistence of green innovation at firm-level: A moderating perspective based on environmental regulation intensity," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PB).
    38. Chai, Jingxia & Wu, Haitao & Hao, Yu, 2022. "Planned economic growth and controlled energy demand: How do regional growth targets affect energy consumption in China?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    39. Guo, Bingnan & Wang, Yu & Zhang, Hao & Liang, Chunyan & Feng, Yu & Hu, Feng, 2023. "Impact of the digital economy on high-quality urban economic development: Evidence from Chinese cities," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    40. Asif Ali & Jinkai Li & Jin Zhang & Muhammad Zubair Chishti, 2024. "Exploring the impact of green finance and technological innovation on green economic growth: Evidence from emerging market economies," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(6), pages 6392-6407, December.
    41. Zhaohua Wang & Chao Feng, 2014. "The impact and economic cost of environmental regulation on energy utilization in China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(27), pages 3362-3376, September.
    42. Yun Zhang & Xia Fang & Zhenyu Yang & Yuchen Sun & Qiuyu Wang, 2023. "Green Finance, Technological Innovation, and Energy Efficiency Improvements: Evidence from China’s Green Finance Reform Pilot Zone," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(11), pages 3531-3549, September.
    43. Wang, Zilong & Wang, Xinbin, 2022. "Research on the impact of green finance on energy efficiency in different regions of China based on the DEA-Tobit model," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jinyue Zhang & Zhenglin Sun, 2025. "Can digital-empowered green finance enhance energy efficiency? Empirical evidence from China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1-67, August.
    2. Liu, Haodong & Tang, Xinmeng & Xu, Qiuyan, 2025. "The economically viable decarbonization path for China's electricity sector in the context of environmental decentralisation: The role of green finance," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    3. Si Zhang & Xiaodong Zhu, 2025. "Policy Synergies for Advancing Energy–Environmental Productivity and Sustainable Urban Development: Empirical Evidence from China’s Dual-Pilot Energy Policies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-36, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jinyue Zhang & Zhenglin Sun, 2025. "Can digital-empowered green finance enhance energy efficiency? Empirical evidence from China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1-67, August.
    2. Nepal, Rabindra & Zhao, Xiaomeng & Liu, Yang & Dong, Kangyin, 2024. "Can green finance strengthen energy resilience? The case of China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    3. Zeng, Ming & Zhang, Weike, 2024. "Green finance: The catalyst for artificial intelligence and energy efficiency in Chinese urban sustainable development," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    4. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Xuan, Chengnan & Wang, Fuhao & Wang, Keying, 2024. "Path analysis of green finance on energy transition under climate change," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    5. Wang, Yafei & Shi, Ming & Zhao, Zihan & Liu, Junnan & Zhang, Shiqiu, 2025. "How does green finance improve the total factor energy efficiency? Capturing the mediating role of green management innovation and embodied technological progress," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    6. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Li, Jiangnan & Wang, Fuhao, 2024. "The role of green finance in the construction of new energy system: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    7. Song, Wenfei & Han, Xianfeng & Liu, Qiange, 2024. "Patterns of environmental regulation and green innovation in China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 176-192.
    8. Xue, Yan & Hu, Dongmei & Irfan, Muhammad & Wu, Haitao & Hao, Yu, 2023. "Natural resources policy making through finance? The role of green finance on energy resources poverty," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    9. Sultanuzzaman, Md Reza & Yahya, Farzan & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2024. "Exploring the complex interplay of green finance, business cycles, and energy development," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    10. Zhang, Qiufeng & Huang, Huan & Chen, Liang & Wang, Yushi, 2025. "How does green finance affect carbon emission intensity? The role of green technology innovation and internet development," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    11. Jiyou Xiang & Linfang Tan & Da Gao, 2024. "Unlocking Green Patterns: The Local and Spatial Impacts of Green Finance on Urban Green Total Factor Productivity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-17, September.
    12. Chen, Chunxiao & Xie, Xin, 2025. "Digital economy development, industrial structure development, and green finance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 85(PD).
    13. Lu, Heyu & Li, Jiayang & Wu, Zongfa & Zeng, Yufeiyang, 2025. "Rethinking energy allocation: Can green finance be the solution? — Evidence from machine learning method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 332(C).
    14. Yan Su & Chien‐Chiang Lee, 2025. "Green finance, environmental quality and technological innovation in China," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(1), pages 405-425, January.
    15. Yahui Chen & Yi An & Zixun Nie & Yuanying Chi & Xinyue Jia, 2025. "Impact of Green Financial Reform on Urban Economic Resilience—A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on Green Financial Reform and Innovation Pilot Zones," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-32, July.
    16. Borojo, Dinkneh Gebre & Yushi, Jiang & Gong, Xueting & Zhang, Hongyu & Miao, Miao, 2024. "The heterogeneous impacts of climate finance on energy efficiency and renewable energy production in developing countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    17. Qi Cui & Xiaoyu Ma & Sisi Zhang, 2025. "The impact of green finance on energy saving and carbon reduction: evidence from Chinese cities," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 1-33, February.
    18. Xiuli Liu & Jing Cui & Yanrui Wu & Xiaohang Yue & Jun Shen & Pibin Guo, 2024. "The Nexus between Green Finance and Carbon Emissions: Evidence from Maturity Mismatch in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-24, May.
    19. Wuxia Xue, 2024. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: The influence of environmental and social criteria in green finance decision-making: insights and trends," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1-21, June.
    20. Yan, Ying & Lin, Tao & Ma, Heng, 2025. "The impact of corporate climate risk on carbon intensity: Evidence from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:240:y:2025:i:c:s0960148124022808. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.