IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reveco/v88y2023icp73-91.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can green finance development abate carbon emissions: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Jiaqi
  • Tian, Jiaxin
  • Kang, Yuxin
  • Guo, Kun

Abstract

Green finance has been treated as an important tool in the transformation process to low-carbon economy; however, it still remains a question whether the development of green finance could offer carbon savings, or inversely lead to more carbon debts. Based on panel data of 30 provincial administrative regions during 2008–2019, we use the fixed-effect model to examine the carbon emissions reduction effect of green finance. The empirical results suggest that green finance development exerts significantly negative influence on carbon emissions by energy consumption structure optimization and industrial structure upgrading. Besides, we also find that compared with green bond, green credit has a more pronounced carbon emissions reduction effect at present. Furthermore, the heterogeneity of green credit types and regional heterogeneity are both discussed in this study. It is indicated that the green credit oriented for energy conservation and environmental protection could restrain the carbon emissions more significantly while the green credit oriented for clean energy cannot contribute to cutting down carbon emissions as remarkably as other types of green credit. As for regional heterogeneity, results suggest that green finance could curtail carbon emissions in the central and western regions, while this effect is not significant for provinces in the eastern part of China. Thus, the green finance policies should be implemented based on regional characteristics in order to abate carbon emissions more effectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Jiaqi & Tian, Jiaxin & Kang, Yuxin & Guo, Kun, 2023. "Can green finance development abate carbon emissions: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 73-91.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:88:y:2023:i:c:p:73-91
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2023.06.011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105905602300179X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iref.2023.06.011?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luo, Sumei & Yu, Shenghui & Zhou, Guangyou, 2021. "Does green credit improve the core competence of commercial banks? Based on quasi-natural experiments in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    2. Wang, Yuan & Li, Li & Kubota, Jumpei & Han, Rong & Zhu, Xiaodong & Lu, Genfa, 2016. "Does urbanization lead to more carbon emission? Evidence from a panel of BRICS countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 375-380.
    3. Acheampong, Alex O., 2019. "Modelling for insight: Does financial development improve environmental quality?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 156-179.
    4. Lv, Chengchao & Bian, Baocheng & Lee, Chien-Chiang & He, Zhiwen, 2021. "Regional gap and the trend of green finance development in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    5. Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Yoshino, Naoyuki, 2019. "The way to induce private participation in green finance and investment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 98-103.
    6. Shan, Yuli & Liu, Jianghua & Liu, Zhu & Xu, Xinwanghao & Shao, Shuai & Wang, Peng & Guan, Dabo, 2016. "New provincial CO2 emission inventories in China based on apparent energy consumption data and updated emission factors," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 742-750.
    7. Zerbib, Olivier David, 2019. "The effect of pro-environmental preferences on bond prices: Evidence from green bonds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 39-60.
    8. Qingma Dong & Shuyang Wen & Xiliang Liu, 2020. "Credit Allocation, Pollution, and Sustainable Growth: Theory and Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(12), pages 2793-2811, September.
    9. Wen, Huwei & Lee, Chien-Chiang & Zhou, Fengxiu, 2021. "Green credit policy, credit allocation efficiency and upgrade of energy-intensive enterprises," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    10. Tobias S. Schmidt, 2014. "Low-carbon investment risks and de-risking," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 4(4), pages 237-239, April.
    11. Zhang, Dayong & Zhang, Zhiwei & Managi, Shunsuke, 2019. "A bibliometric analysis on green finance: Current status, development, and future directions," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 425-430.
    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. 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.
    2. Xi Zhao & Siqin Zhang & Najid Ahmad & Shuangguo Wang & Jiaxing Zhao, 2024. "Unlocking Sustainable Growth: The Transformative Impact of Green Finance on Industrial Carbon Emissions in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-21, September.
    3. Lu, Juan & Li, He & Yang, Ran, 2024. "Low carbon finance drives corporate carbon emissions reduction: A perspective from issuing carbon neutral bonds," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    4. Muhtar Sapiri & Aditya Halim Perdana Kusuma Putra, 2023. "Causality of Bank Financial Performance, Green Bond, CSR, Green Financing Portfolio and CO2 Emissions in Transportation: Evidence from Indonesia," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(6), pages 511-522, November.
    5. Qi He & Hongli Jiang, 2024. "Does the Energy-Consumption Permit Trading Scheme Improve Carbon Emission Performance? Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-27, January.
    6. Araujo, Arlley Pereira de & Borges, Maria Rosa, 2024. "Analyzing the impacts on passenger yield of incumbent companies after the entry of a new company into the aviation market: The case of Brazil," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    7. Dong, Xiaotian & Wang, Kai-Hua & Tao, Ran & Sorana, Vătavu & Moldovan, Nicoleta-Claudia, 2024. "Is there a relationship between climate policy uncertainty and green finance? Evidence from bootstrap rolling window test," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 277-289.
    8. Qun He & Aijun Sun & Yu Hua, 2024. "Can Financial Agglomeration Development Reduce Carbon Emissions? Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta Region of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-22, February.
    9. Wei, Fangqing & Peng, Fei & Liu, Mengyue & Jiang, Ruixue, 2024. "Carbon productivity growth in China's thermal power industry: Empirical evidence using a bootstrapped Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index approach with fixed-sum undesirable outputs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    10. Shaolong Zeng & Qinyi Fu & Fazli Haleem & Yang Shen & Jiedong Zhang, 2023. "Carbon-Reduction, Green Finance, and High-Quality Economic Development: A Case of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-22, September.
    11. Li, He & Lu, Juan, 2023. "Can low-carbon mergers and acquisitions reduce carbon emissions? Evidence from China's energy companies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    12. Li, Tianyu & Yue, Xiao-Guang & Qin, Meng & Norena-Chavez, Diego, 2024. "Towards Paris Climate Agreement goals: The essential role of green finance and green technology," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    13. Yuanxin Li & Xinmiao Zhou & Huihong Liu & Jia Wu, 2024. "Incentive or Barrier: Evidence from Environmental Policy and Corporate Sustainability in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-34, December.
    14. Lijiali Huang & Xueqiong Wang & Yanwen Sheng & Jinli Zhao, 2025. "Impact of Venture Capital on Urban Carbon Emissions: Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-25, January.
    15. Danhong Shen & Xiaorong Guo & Shenglin Ma, 2024. "Study on the Coupled and Coordinated Development of Climate Investment and Financing and Green Finance of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-20, December.
    16. Yu, Mengxuan & An, Ping, 2024. "How much financing China needs to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    17. Zhaoxia Wu & Xi Xu & Mai He, 2025. "The Impact of Green Finance on Urban Carbon Emission Efficiency: Threshold Effects Based on the Stages of the Digital Economy in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-30, January.
    18. Xingcun Qin & Genglin Dong & Pengcheng Xie & Yulong Zhang & Cuiping Liao, 2024. "Impact of Green Finance on Carbon Emission Efficiency and Spatial Spillover Effects: A Case Study of Guangzhou, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-22, November.
    19. Zhao, Jing, 2024. "Impact of green finance on low-carbon transformation: Spatial spillover effects in China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    20. Kaihua Wang, 2024. "Economic policy uncertainty and green finance: evidence from frequency and quantile aspects," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 1-26, February.

    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. Shi, Jinyan & Yu, Conghui & Li, Yanxi & Wang, Tianhe, 2022. "Does green financial policy affect debt-financing cost of heavy-polluting enterprises? An empirical evidence based on Chinese pilot zones for green finance reform and innovations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    2. Jiqiang Huang & Kengcheng Zheng & Chaosheng Han, 2024. "Green finance and enterprise green innovation: incentive effect and synergy perspective," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(11), pages 28107-28129, November.
    3. Qianyi Du & Haoran Pan & Shuang Liang & Xiaoxue Liu, 2023. "Can Green Credit Policies Accelerate the Realization of the Dual Carbon Goal in China? Examination Based on an Endogenous Financial CGE Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-26, March.
    4. Chen, Di & Hu, Haiqing & Wang, Ning & Chang, Chun-Ping, 2024. "The impact of green finance on transformation to green energy: Evidence from industrial enterprises in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    5. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Wang, Chih-Wei & Thinh, Bui Tien, 2023. "Green development, climate risks, and cash flow: International evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    6. Pang, Lidong & Zhu, Meng Nan & Yu, Haiyan, 2022. "Is green finance really a blessing for green technology and carbon efficiency?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    7. Wang, Moran & Li, Xuerong & Wang, Shouyang, 2021. "Discovering research trends and opportunities of green finance and energy policy: A data-driven scientometric analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    8. Qian, Shuitu & Yu, Wenzhe, 2024. "Green finance and environmental, social, and governance performance," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 1185-1202.
    9. Abdul Gafoor, C.P. & Perumbalath, Shamshadali & Daimari, Phungkha & Naheem, K.T., 2024. "Trends and patterns in green finance research: A bibliometric study," Innovation and Green Development, Elsevier, vol. 3(2).
    10. Li, Wei & Cheng, Huihui & He, Junhe & Song, Yufei & Bu, Hui, 2024. "The impacts of green credit policy on green innovation of high-polluting enterprises in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PA).
    11. Yanli Wang & Xiaodong Lei & Dongxiao Zhao & Ruyin Long & Meifen Wu, 2021. "The Dual Impacts of Green Credit on Economy and Environment: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-13, April.
    12. Bhatnagar, S. & Sharma, D., 2022. "Evolution of green finance and its enablers: A bibliometric analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    13. Xinmeng Tang & Xiaoguang Zhou & Moustafa Mohamed Nazief Haggag Kotb Kholaif, 2024. "Does green finance achieve its goal of promoting coordinated development of economy–environment? Using the pollutant emission efficiency as a proxy," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 9973-10002, April.
    14. Yan, Cheng & Mao, Zhicheng & Ho, Kung-Cheng, 2022. "Effect of green financial reform and innovation pilot zones on corporate investment efficiency," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    15. Goshu Desalegn & Anita Tangl, 2022. "Developing Countries in the Lead: A Bibliometric Approach to Green Finance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-19, June.
    16. Mariana Reis Maria & Rosangela Ballini & Roney Fraga Souza, 2023. "Evolution of Green Finance: A Bibliometric Analysis through Complex Networks and Machine Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-23, January.
    17. Roy Kouwenberg & Chenglong Zheng, 2023. "A Review of the Global Climate Finance Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-32, January.
    18. Su, Chi-Wei & Li, Wenhao & Umar, Muhammad & Lobonţ, Oana-Ramona, 2022. "Can green credit reduce the emissions of pollutants?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 205-219.
    19. Tang, Xinmeng & Zhou, Xiaoguang, 2023. "Impact of green finance on renewable energy development: A spatiotemporal consistency perspective," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 320-337.
    20. Xin, Baogui & Jiang, Kai & Santibanez Gonzalez, Ernesto D.R., 2024. "The coevolution effect of central bank digital currency and green bonds on the net-zero economy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Green finance; Carbon emissions; Industrial structure; Energy consumption structure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • P28 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Natural Resources; Environment
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

    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:reveco:v:88:y:2023:i:c:p:73-91. 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.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620165 .

    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.