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Can green finance improve carbon emission efficiency?

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Abstract

This article discusses the influence and mechanism of green finance on carbon emission efficiency. Based on the panel data of 27 provinces and municipality in China from 2008 to 2017, the slack-based model of unexpected output is used to measure the efficiency of carbon emissions. On this basis, the Tobit model is used to empirically study the impact and mechanism of green finance on the efficiency of carbon emissions. The consequences exhibit that (1) China’s carbon emission efficiency is not high and generally presents a gradient decreasing characteristic of east, middle, and west. (2) Overall, green finance plays a considerable role in improving carbon emission efficiency; by region and group, there are significant differences in the influence of green finance on carbon emission efficiency. (3) The study found that green finance promotes the efficiency of carbon emission through technological progress and industrial structure upgrading. This study provides empirical evidence and policy enlightenment for the realization of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals and the evolution of green finance.

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Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article. What’s more, the data and materials used in this paper are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Notes

  1. Project comprehensive report preparation team (2020). Comprehensive report on China’s long-term low-carbon development strategy and transformation path. China Population, Resources and Environment. 30:1–25.

  2. The data comes from CSMAR database.

  3. Writing Group of China Green Finance Progress Report (2021). Analysis of green loan business in China. China finance. pp:48–50.

  4. The data comes from EPS database.

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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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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430078, China

    Wei Zhang, Zhangrong Zhu, Xuemeng Liu & Jing Cheng

  2. Wuhan City, China

    Zhangrong Zhu

Authors
  1. Wei Zhang
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  2. Zhangrong Zhu
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  3. Xuemeng Liu
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  4. Jing Cheng
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Contributions

Wei Zhang: conceptualization and validation; Zhangrong Zhu: methodology, visualization, and writing—original draft; Xuemeng Liu: software, data curation, formal analysis; Jing Cheng: formal analysis.

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Correspondence to Zhangrong Zhu.

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Zhang, W., Zhu, Z., Liu, X. et al. Can green finance improve carbon emission efficiency?. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 68976–68989 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20670-8

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