Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Can green finance promote green technology innovation in enterprises: empirical evidence from China

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Green technology innovation is a crucial step in China's transition towards a green economy and has received substantial financial support through green finance. However, China's efficacy in using green finance to serve enterprise green technology innovation is still at an exploratory stage. This study takes the 2017 policy of the Chinese government on "Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot Zones" as a quasi-natural experiment and constructs a difference-in-difference model to examine the impact of green finance on enterprise green technology innovation. The research results reveal that green financial policies significantly promote green technology innovation and have an incentive effect on the application of green invention patents and green utility model patents, with this conclusion being robust. This is particularly true for large-scale enterprises, state-owned enterprises, and non-heavy polluting enterprises. Compared to large-scale enterprises, state-owned enterprises, and non-heavy-polluting enterprises are more inclined to apply for green invention patents. Inspection of influence mechanisms suggests that green finance policies alleviate financing constraints and signaling effect to improve enterprises’ green innovation, whereas external market supervision is ineffective. Based on empirical results, relevant policy suggestions are proposed to help green finance better serve enterprises’ green innovation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The datasets used in this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

References

  • Amore MD, Schneider C, Aldokas A (2013) Credit supply and corporate innovation. J Fin Econ 109(3):835–855

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cao T, Zhang C, Yang X (2021) Green effect and influence mechanism of green credit policy —— Evidence based on green patent data of Chinese listed companies. Financial Forum 26:7–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Fan H, Peng Y, Wang H, Xu Z (2021) Greening through finance? J Dev Econ 152:102683

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fang Y, Shao Z (2022) Whether green finance can effectively moderate the green technology innovation effect of heterogeneous environmental regulation. Int J Environ Res Public Health 19:3646

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ge T, Cai X, Song X (2022) How does renewable energy technology innovation affect the upgrading of industrial structure? The moderating effect of green finance. Renew Energy 197:1106–1114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han K (2020) Research on the relationship between green finance development and green technology innovation efficiency —— Empirical analysis based on the perspective of space spillover. Price Theory Pract 430:144–147+178

  • He L, Zhang L, Zhong Z, Wang D, Wang, (2019) Green credit, renewable energy investment and green economy development: empirical analysis based on 150 listed companies of China. J Clean Prod 208:363–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He L, Gan S, Zhong T (2022) The impact of green credit policy on firms’ green strategy choices: green innovation or green-washing? Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 29:73307–73325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu J, Li J, Li X, Liu Y, Wang W, Zheng L (2021) Will green finance contribute to a green recovery? Evidence from green financial pilot zone in China. Front Public Health 9:794195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang S, Liu X, Liu Z, Shi H, Xu H (2022) Does green finance promote enterprises’ green technology innovation in China? Front Environ Sci 10:981013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li D, Gou C (2022) Research on the effect and mechanism of green credit on green innovation of “two high and remaining” enterprises [J]. Menstrine Rev 13(01):48–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Li R, Liu L (2021) Green finance and green Innovation for enterprises [J]. J Wuhan Univ (phil Soc Sci Edition) 74(06):126–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Li D, Zheng L (2019) Effect evaluation of China’s green finance policy system —— Based on the analysis of pilot operation data [J]. J Tsinghua Univ (Philosophy and Social Sciences edition) 34(01):173–182199

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li H, Yuan Y, Wang N (2019) Evaluation of the coupled and coordinated development of regional green finance and ecological environment [J]. Stat Decision-Making 35(08):161–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Li N, Gao C, Zang Y (2021) Research on the coupling and coordination mechanism of green technology innovation, environmental regulation and green finance [J]. Sci Manag Res 39(02):100–108

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu S, Wang Y (2023) Green innovation effect of pilot zones for green finance reform: evidence of quasi natural experiment. Technol Forecast Soc Change 186:122079

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu X, Zhang J, Liu T, Zhang X (2022) Can the special economic zones promote the green technology innovation of enterprises? An evidence from China. Front Environ Sci 10:197

    Google Scholar 

  • Meng S, Yan Q (2017) Optimization of green finance and investment structure of enterprise ecological innovation [J]. Sci Res 35(12):1886–1895

    Google Scholar 

  • Qi H, Liu S (2023) Does the green finance policy promote enterprise green innovation —— Evidence from the green Finance reform and innovation pilot Zone [J]. Contemp Finance 03:94–105

    Google Scholar 

  • Shu L, Liao J, Xie Z (2023) Green credit policy and enterprise green innovation —— Empirical evidence based on the perspective of green industry [J]. Fin Econ Res 38(02):144–160

    Google Scholar 

  • Song Q, Lin Y (2023) Accelerate the financial agglomeration and green technology innovation of manufacturing enterprises under the background of building a manufacturing power [J]. Res Fin Econ 38(01):84–99

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun Y, Meng Y (2021) Green finance policy and green technology innovation —— Evidence from the green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot Zone [J]. Fujian Forum (human Soc Sci Edition) 11:126–138

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sun C, Wang Z, Liu J (2021) Study on the coupling of green technology innovation and the development of green financial system [J]. Fin Theory Pract 10:22–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Tao R (2021) Research on the mechanism, practice and optimization of green finance-driven green technology innovation —— is based on the perspective of the coordinated development of “government, enterprise, learning and gold” [J]. Financial Theory Pract 12:62–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y, Feng J (2022) Green bonds promote green innovation research in enterprises [J]. Financial Res 06:171–188

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang X, Wang Y (2021) Green credit policy promotes green innovation research [J]. Manage World 37(06):173–188+ 11

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang T, Liu X, Wang H (2022) Green bonds, financing constraints, and green innovation. J Clean Prod 381:135134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu T-T (2023) Can green credit promote the green transformation of enterprises? J Zhongnan Univ Econ Law 2023:1–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu L, Wang R, Fang X, Ye T (2022) Green credit policy and green technology innovation of export enterprises [J]. Res Dev Manag 34(04):66–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu J, Cui J (2020) Green technology innovation in low-carbon cities and enterprises [J]. China’s Ind Econ 12:178–196

    Google Scholar 

  • Yao X, Xu X (2023) Research on the influence and mechanism of green technology innovation —— Based on the effectiveness test of the “market-government” double spiral [J]. J Yunnan Univ Natl (phil Soc Sci Edition) 40(02):119–129

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu B (2021) How does the green credit policy affect the technological innovation of heavily polluting enterprises? [J]. Econ Manag 43(11):35–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang F, Yu H (2023) Do green credit policies drive green innovation in heavy-polluting enterprises? —Empirical test based on enterprise life cycle theory [J/OL]. Nankai Manag Rev 1–22

  • Zhang C, Cheng X, Ma Y (2022a) Research on the impact of green finance policy on regional green innovation-based on evidence from the pilot zones for green finance reform and innovation. Front Environ Sci 10:896661

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang J, Yang G, Ding X, Qin J (2022b) Can green bonds empower green technology innovation of enterprises? Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 2022:1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang L, Berk S, Ma X (2022c) Does green finance investment and technological innovation improve renewable energy efficiency and sustainable development goals. Renew Energy 193:991–1000

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao N (2021) Does green credit promote regional green technology innovation? — Based on the regional green patent data [J]. Econ Probl 06:33–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhong Y, Yang Z (2021) Are soes more willing to innovate in green technology? —Empirical study from listed manufacturing companies [J]. J Yunnan Univ Fin Econ 37(05):88–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Z, Tan Y (2022) Can green industrial policy promote green innovation in heavily polluting enterprises? Evidence from China. Econ Anal Policy 74:59–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by the General Project of Soft Science Research Program of Science and Technology Department of Shaanxi Province: Study on the impact of environmental Regulations on Enterprise green technology Innovation in Shaanxi Province under Grant Agreement No 2022KRM116. And this work was also supported by Key Project of Xi 'an Social Science Planning Fund: Research on Driving Policies of Xi 'an Enterprises' Green Technology Innovation under the goal of “Double Carbon” under Grant Agreement No 22JX137. And this work also received research support from the Ministry of Education: Study on the Interprovincial Carbon Emission Reduction Responsibility Allocation of China's Manufacturing Industry under the “Dual Carbon” Goal under Grant Agreement No 22YJC790008 and Social Science Foundation Project of Shaanxi Province: Research on the Treatment Path of County Rural Water Pollution in Shaanxi Province under the Strategy of Rural Revitalization No 2020D025.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Finance, Xi’an International Studies University, Xi’an, China

    Qian Zeng, Yijie Tong & Yiying Yang

Authors
  1. Qian Zeng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yijie Tong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yiying Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Qian Zeng, Yijie Tong and Yiying Yang performed material preparation, data collection and analysis. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Qian Zeng and Yijie Tong. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. And all authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yiying Yang.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

No ethical approval was necessary for this study.

Consent to participate

All participants in this study consent to participation.

Consent for publication

All authors consent to this publication.

Competing interests

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. References.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Nicholas Apergis

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Qian Zeng is the first author, Yijie Tong is the second author and Yiying Yang is the third author.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zeng, Q., Tong, Y. & Yang, Y. Can green finance promote green technology innovation in enterprises: empirical evidence from China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 87628–87644 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28342-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28342-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation