Analysis of Green Credit Efficiency and Optimization Potential of Chinese Commercial Banks

This article applies the DEA model to measure the green credit efficiency, radial adjustment, and slack adjustment of input factors of China’s most representative commercial banks from 2020 to 2024 to improve their green credit efficiency and optimize factor inputs. The results show that (1) Chinese commercial banks’ green credit is inefficient, with a large average radial adjustment ratio. They have a relatively high potential for optimization. (2) Of the slack adjustments, labor has the smallest slack adjustment, followed by deposits, and capital has the largest adjustment. Banks should reduce their inputs accordingly to optimize resource allocation. Furthermore, state-owned banks show a greater slack adjustment ratio than joint-stock banks, indicating that resource allocation within state-owned banks is less efficient. State-owned banks should be prioritized for optimizing resource allocation. (3) The green credit efficiency of state-owned banks is higher than that of joint-stock banks. Conclusion of further decomposition: the scale efficiency value of state-owned banks is higher than that of joint-stock banks. The pure technical efficiency of state-owned banks is higher. Based on this, individual empirical analyses are carried out in each bank, and based on the empirical results, directions and suggestions for improvement and adjustment are given from the point of view of individual banks.