Has green finance improved China’s ecological and livable environment?

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2023-04, Vol.30 (16), p.45951-45965
• Main Authors: Yang, Ao, Huan, Xingang, Teo, Brian Sheng Xian, Li, Wenqi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Carbon; China; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecological effects; Econometrics; Economic Development; Economics; Ecosystem; Ecotoxicology; Energy consumption; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental impact; Environmental policy; Environmental science; Externality; Finance; Financial instruments; Heterogeneity; Impact analysis; Innovations; Regional development; Regional planning; Research Article; Technological change; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control
• ISSN: 1614-7499; 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-25484-w

Green finance can promote economic transformation and technological innovation and play a key role in solving the ecological environment and energy crisis. This paper constructs a comprehensive ecological livable environment evaluation system based on the provincial panel data in China from 2011 to 2019. At the same time, the panel mediation effect and spatial econometric model are used to test the impact of green finance on the ecological and livable environment. The main research conclusions include the following: (1) green finance has significantly improved China’s ecological and livable environment; (2) green finance improves the ecological and livable environment by improving the level of technological innovation; (3) the impact of green finance on the ecological livable environment has regional heterogeneity, and green finance in the central provinces has a better effect on the improvement of the ecological livable environment; and (4) the ecological livable environment among Chinese provinces has a significant positive spatial correlation. Among them, green finance has significantly improved the local ecological livable environment but reduced the ecological livable environment of surrounding provinces. Based on the above conclusions, this paper suggests that the government should pay more attention to green finance and technological innovation and coordinate the development of the ecological livable environment among provinces. The research results provide empirical evidence for better developing green finance and improving the ecological livable environment and also provide certain theoretical guidance for China’s coordinated regional development and high-quality economic development.