Industrial and financial cooperation, heterogeneous green technological innovation, and urban low carbon transformation

Amid global industrial transformation and China's economic restructuring and improvement, industrial and financial collaboration has emerged as a crucial strategy to advance China's urban low carbon transition. Current research mostly emphasizes the impact of financial development on urban low-carbon transformation, overlooking the effects of industrial and financial collaboration. Based on panel data of 284 cities in China from 2012 to 2021, this study uses the pilot policy of industrial and financial cooperation and the difference-in-differences method to examine the impact of industrial and financial cooperation on urban low-carbon transformation as well as its heterogeneity and spatial spillover effects, clarifying the mechanistic role of heterogeneous green technology innovation. The study found that: (i) industrial and financial cooperation can markedly promote urban low-carbon transformation. (ii) Substantive and strategic green technological innovation are the key mechanisms in this process. (iii) In comparison to other cities, industrial and financial cooperation exerts a more substantial and important influence on urban low-carbon transformation in eastern cities, non-resource-based cities, and first-tier cities. (iv) After considering the spatial spillover effect, it is evident that industrial and financial cooperation can facilitate low-carbon transformation locally, with a pronounced impact in geographically and economically proximate cities.