IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0334001.html

What are the spatio-temporal differentiation characteristics and driving factors of the coupling coordination degree between green finance and ecological efficiency? Evidence from 84 cities in western China

Author

Listed:
  • Dalai Ma
  • Bitan An
  • Zuman Guo
  • Jiawei Zhang
  • Fengtai Zhang
  • Ruonan Chang
  • Yin Yan

Abstract

Facilitating the coordinated and effective progress of green finance (GF) and ecological efficiency (EE) stands as a potent approach to support our nation in attaining sustainable development goals. This paper Utilized panel data encompassing 84 cities in Western China spanning from 2007 to 2021, this paper empirically analyzes the spatio-temporal characteristics and driving factors of the coupling coordination degree between green finance and ecological efficiency (CCD-GFEE) in western cities. The findings indicate that: (1) The level of GF demonstrates a rising trajectory, with significant regional disparities. Besides, the high level area progressively moves from the northwest to the southwest. (2) On the whole, urban EE demonstrates a relatively elevated level, but it still fails to reach DEA effectiveness. Compared to the northwest region, the southwest region has poorer efficiency. (3) The CCD-GFEE in western China showing a slight growth trend. The coupling coordination degree (CCD) in Northwest China is higher than that in Southwest China, and cities with higher CCD are primarily found in Inner Mongolia, Sichuan Province and Shaanxi Province. Within them, the CCD of Chengdu is the highest, Chongqing has achieved the largest stage leap. (4) The global Moran’s I consistently remained positive and exhibited a tendency of initially rising and subsequently falling, indicating that the spatial aggregation effect of CCD-GFEE first increased and then decreased. (5) The CCD-GFEE driving factors are examined using the spatial econometric model, and it has been observed that the impact of population size and government intervention on CCD-GFEE is negative, while the impact of industrial structure, technological progress and economic level on the coupling and coordination of CCD-GFEE is positive. Finally, the paper presents certain policy enlightenments to guide the coordinated development of GF and EE from the aspects of GF system formulation, economic construction and technological progress.

Suggested Citation

  • Dalai Ma & Bitan An & Zuman Guo & Jiawei Zhang & Fengtai Zhang & Ruonan Chang & Yin Yan, 2025. "What are the spatio-temporal differentiation characteristics and driving factors of the coupling coordination degree between green finance and ecological efficiency? Evidence from 84 cities in western," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 20(10), pages 1-27, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0334001
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0334001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0334001
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0334001&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0334001?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hualin Xie & Zhenyi Ouyang & Yongrok Choi, 2020. "Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Green Finance Development in the Yangtze River Delta of China: Analysis Based on the Spatial Durbin Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-15, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Yi Lian & Yunfeng Shang & Fangbin Qian, 2024. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: Spatial effects of green finance development in Chinese provinces under the context of high-quality energy development," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1-32, April.
    2. Liu, Yang & Wang, Jianda & Dong, Kangyin & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2023. "How does natural resource abundance affect green total factor productivity in the era of green finance? Global evidence," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    3. Lee, Chi-Chuan & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2022. "How does green finance affect green total factor productivity? Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    4. Keqiang Dong & Liao Guo, 2021. "Research on the Spatial Correlation and Spatial Lag of COVID-19 Infection Based on Spatial Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-16, October.
    5. Lu, Yuchen & Gao, Yuqiang & Zhang, Yu & Wang, Junrong, 2022. "Can the green finance policy force the green transformation of high-polluting enterprises? A quasi-natural experiment based on “Green Credit Guidelines”," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    6. Tangyang Jiang & Juanjuan Xu & Yang Yu & Atif Jahanger & Daniel Balsalobre‐Lorente, 2025. "The spatial pattern and association network of green finance development: Empirical evidence from China," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(3), pages 2324-2348, August.
    7. Keliang Wang & Yajing Bian & Yunhe Cheng, 2022. "Exploring the Spatial Correlation Network Structure of Green Innovation Efficiency in the Yangtze River Delta, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-20, March.
    8. Song, Hao & Zhao, Xiaoxia, 2024. "The unexpected consequences of company bankruptcy: An investigation into the spillover effect of local economic liquidation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    9. Rabab Triki & Bassem Kahouli & Kais Tissaoui & Haykel Tlili, 2023. "Assessing the Link between Environmental Quality, Green Finance, Health Expenditure, Renewable Energy, and Technology Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-18, February.
    10. Yanhong Liu & Jia Lei & Yihua Zhang, 2021. "A Study on the Sustainable Relationship among the Green Finance, Environment Regulation and Green-Total-Factor Productivity in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-27, October.
    11. Lei Nie & Purong Chen & Xiuli Liu & Qinqin Shi & Jing Zhang, 2022. "Coupling and Coordinative Development of Green Finance and Industrial-Structure Optimization in China: Spatial-Temporal Difference and Driving Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-22, September.
    12. Xiaotong Gao & Naigang Cao & Yushuo Zhang & Lin Zhao, 2022. "Spatial Structure of China’s Green Development Efficiency: A Perspective Based on Social Network Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-16, December.
    13. Cui, Dan & Cheng, Liangmin & You, Jing, 2024. "Financing constraints and patent investment in small and medium-sized enterprises: A family entrepreneurial perspective," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    14. Huiji Wang, 2025. "How Green Finance Reform Narrows the Urban-Rural Income Gap: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-21, September.
    15. Valentina Boamah & Decai Tang & Qian Zhang & Jianqun Zhang, 2023. "Do FDI Inflows into African Countries Impact Their CO 2 Emission Levels?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-18, February.
    16. Ngo, Thanh Quang, 2024. "Natural resource rents, clean energy, and green total factor productivity. Evidence from Vietnam in pre-post Covid era," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    17. Bai, Rui & Lin, Boqiang, 2024. "Green finance and green innovation: Theoretical analysis based on game theory and empirical evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 760-774.
    18. Stephen Taiwo Onifade & Mohammed Musah & Bright Akwasi Gyamfi & Divine Q. Agozie & Evans Opoku‐Mensah, 2025. "Quest for SDG‐13: The Aptness of Green Investments and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to Emission Mitigation Among Central‐African States," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(3), pages 3303-3330, June.
    19. Rahman Aulia Fuad & Agusti Rosalita Rachma & Kurniawati Desi Tri, 2024. "Mediating Role of Sustainability Reporting Quality on the Relationship Between Green Banking and Firm Value," Studia Universitatis „Vasile Goldis” Arad – Economics Series, Sciendo, vol. 34(4), pages 105-129.

    More about this item

    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:plo:pone00:0334001. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.