Better financing: Signal match between growth in the digital economy and renewable energy business

The advancement of the digital economy propels decarbonization processes forward, with industrial digitalization anticipated to mitigate intermittent renewable energy generation, and digital industrialization amplifies the projected energy demand. Prior research has indicated that enterprises engaged in renewable businesses can alleviate their financing constraints through market signals. Given a deepening interconnection between the digital economy and renewable energy, a pertinent question arises - will the expansion of the digital economy effectively serve as an environmental signal to enhance the financing effect from renewable energy businesses? To address this, we analyze business data from all listed companies in China involved in renewable energy from 2003 to 2023. Our findings reveal: (1) Consistent with signaling theory, growth signals related to industrial digitalization and digital industrialization facilitate corporate financing through signals from renewable energy businesses. (2) We uncover dynamic relationships between these factors by progressively narrowing the time window for industrial digitalization and digital industrialization signal expression. (3) We validate our conclusions' robustness by testing how business cycles within the renewable energy sector affect the signal match. The findings offer insights for governmental efforts in formulating industry-specific plans, facilitating the enhancement of industrial collaboration.