Can digital finance reduce industrial pollution? New evidence from 260 cities in China

Industrial pollution reduction is a crucial issue in the pursuit of sustainable economic and environmental development. As a product of the deep integration of traditional finance and Internet information technology, digital finance has become an effective tool for regulating the use of funds and st...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2022-04, Vol.17 (4), p.e0266564-e0266564
Main Authors: Wen, Hongmei, Yue, Jingliang, Li, Jian, Xiu, Xuedan, Zhong, Shen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air pollution
China
Cities
Computer and Information Sciences
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Economic activity
Economic Development
Emissions
Emissions control
Empirical analysis
Environmental aspects
Environmental impact
Environmental Pollution - analysis
Environmental Pollution - prevention & control
Finance
Financial Management
Financial services
Humans
Impact analysis
Industrial pollution
Industry
Information technology
Labor force
Nitrogen
Physical Sciences
Pollution control
Research and Analysis Methods
Social Sciences
Sulfur
Sustainable development
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Summary:Industrial pollution reduction is a crucial issue in the pursuit of sustainable economic and environmental development. As a product of the deep integration of traditional finance and Internet information technology, digital finance has become an effective tool for regulating the use of funds and strengthening the effectiveness of policies in the context of the digital era, which has obvious effects on industrial pollution emissions. Using panel data of 260 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011-2019 and the digital inclusive finance index jointly compiled by Peking University and Ant Financial Services Group, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of digital finance on industrial pollution emissions through fixed effects model, mediating effects model and threshold effects model. The empirical results show that digital finance can effectively reduce industrial pollution and part of the impact is achieved through industrial structure. In the process of reducing industrial pollution by digital finance, there exists double threshold effects. When the development of digital finance breaks the threshold value, the industrial pollution emission reduction effect appears to accelerate. Finally, this paper puts forward targeted suggestions to promote industrial pollution reduction and environmental economic development.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0266564