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Does green financial reform pilot policy promote green technology innovation? Empirical evidence from China

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Abstract

As a new financial model that balances economic and ecological benefits, green finance (GF) plays an important role in promoting green economic development and ecological environmental protection. Based on the panel data set of 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2020, this paper uses the synthetic control method (SCM) to explore the impact of the green financial reform pilot policy (GFRP) on the green technology innovation (GTI) capabilities of pilot areas and evaluate the policy effects. The specific research conclusions are as follows: (1) On the whole, the GFRP has a positive role in promoting the GTI capability of the pilot areas, but this role is different due to the different resources, environment, and economic development levels of each region. The areas with economic development levels in the middle and head are obviously affected by the policy, and the less developed areas are less affected by the policy or even have a restraining effect. (2) Although the pilot policy has improved the GTI capability of the pilot area, the promotion effect is unstable, that is, the implementation effect of the policy is unstable. In the early stage of policy implementation, the promotion effect of the policy on the regional GTI capacity is the most obvious, and this promotion effect begins to show a downward or stable trend in the 2–3 years after the policy is implemented. Based on the above conclusions, it can provide some reference for the revision and improvement of GFRP.

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Data availability

The dataset used in this research is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

Funding This work was supported by the project supported by the National Social Science Fund of China (19BGL276). The authors are grateful for the receipt of these funds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Business School, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, 255000, China

    Xueyang Wang, Xiumei Sun, Haotian Zhang & Chaokai Xue

Authors
  1. Xueyang Wang
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  2. Xiumei Sun
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  3. Haotian Zhang
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  4. Chaokai Xue
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Contributions

XW: Conceptualization, Data collection, Statistical analysis, Writing-original draft. XS: Conceptualization, Supervision, Funding acquisition and writing, Review and editing. HZ: Writing, Review and editing, Supervision. CX: Data curation, Project administration, Writing-original draft

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Correspondence to Xiumei Sun.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Wang, X., Sun, X., Zhang, H. et al. Does green financial reform pilot policy promote green technology innovation? Empirical evidence from China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 77283–77299 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21291-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21291-x

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