Abstract
Improving industrial eco-efficiency is of great significance for building a beautiful China and achieving its carbon peak and neutrality targets. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2007 to 2018, this paper uses the super-efficiency SBM model to measure industrial eco-efficiency and empirically tests the influence of green finance on Chinese industrial eco-efficiency from the national and regional levels. The results show that the average level of industrial eco-efficiency in China is relatively stable during the study period with a large space for advancement. Second, there is spatial heterogeneity in Chinese industrial eco-efficiency, showing a gradually decreasing “southeast-northwest” ladder-like distribution. Third, the national-level regression results show that there is a significant “U-shaped” relationship between green financing and industrial eco-efficiency. In addition, the regression results at the regional level indicate that there is regional heterogeneity in the impact of green finance on industrial eco-efficiency. Finally, based on the research conclusions, specific suggestions on how green finance can improve industrial eco-efficiency in China are put forward, including vigorously developing green finance at the macro and micro levels, and exerting the positive effects of green finance in improving industrial eco-efficiency according to the area and the development level of green finance.
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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article. What is more, the data and materials used in this paper are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Notes
The data comes from the official website of the National Bureau of Statistics.
The data comes from the 2020 China Eco-Environmental Statistical Annual Report.
Eastern provinces include Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Liaoning, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Guangdong, and Hainan; central provinces include Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Hunan; western provinces include Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang.
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Funding
This research was supported by the key project of the National Social Science Foundation of China—“Research on policy framework and innovation path of green finance to promote the realization of carbon neutrality goal” (Grant No. 21AZD113).
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Wei Zhang: conceptualization, validation, and writing—review and editing. Xiaolin He: methodology, visualization, formal analysis, and writing—original draft. Xuemeng Liu: software, data curation, and formal analysis.
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Zhang, W., He, X. & Liu, X. Does green finance improve the industrial eco-efficiency in China?. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 14484–14496 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23147-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23147-w