How Can Green Supply Chain Finance Reduce Corporate Carbon Emissions? The Mediating Effect Test of Financing Level and Supply Chain Stability

Under the background of the steady advancement of the dual-carbon goal and the increasing improvement of the green financial system, green supply chain finance is like a bridge that closely links the capital of the financial market and the low-carbon transformation of the real economy. The following article chooses A-shares traded enterprises from 2014 to 2024 as the study sample, adopts multi-dimensional empirical methods to study the association in green supply chain finance along with corporate emission levels, and analyzes its transmission mechanisms and heterogeneity. The findings demonstrate that green supply chain finance has a substantial inhibitory impact with enterprise emission levels, a finding that remains robust across a series of tests, including parallel trend tests, placebo tests, and propensity score matching (PSM). Mechanism analysis demonstrates that green supply chain finance can indirectly reduce carbon emission intensity by improving both financing levels and supply chain stability. Looking at heterogeneity, we find that the emission-reducing effect tends to be stronger among state-owned firms, non-heavy polluters, enterprises with higher total factor productivity, and enterprises that are more financially oriented. Our theoretical value lies in clarifying the direct relationship between green supply chain finance and micro-enterprise carbon emissions, identifying two differentiated intermediary transmission paths, and defining the boundary conditions of the policy role across multiple dimensions, thereby better coordinating and promoting the digital and low-carbon transformation of enterprises.