Digital finance as a catalyst for green innovation: Threshold effect of diminishing marginal returns

This paper evaluates the importance of combining digital finance with conventional finance and information technology (IT) to bring new opportunities for green technology innovation and transformation within polluting industries. This study builds a theoretical framework "digital finance → financing constraints → R&D investment → green technology innovation" to demonstrate the causal mechanism between digital finance and firms' green innovation by using the serial two-mediator model. The study shows that digital finance could reduce financial constraints and increase R&D investments, thereby improving enterprises' green technology innovation in the long run. Moreover, based on the moderating effect model, we find that digital transformation in a polluting firm tends to strengthen the linkage between digital finance and green technology innovation through supervising the use of loans, reviewing green technology innovation projects, and reducing managers' short-sighted behaviors to avoid agency problems. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis shows that the effects of digital finance on green innovation are more apparent in state-owned enterprises and the regions with lower financial development and with higher financial supervision.

The digital finance generated by technology empowerment profoundly affects the innovative behavior of micro-enterprises. To estimate how digital finance influences the quantity and quality of green technological innovation, this paper introduces digital finance into endogenous economic growth model and further conducts correlation analysis with the combination of fixed effects model (FE) and panel threshold model (PTM). Moreover, this paper investigates the action mechanism from the perspective of financial constraint and financial cost. The empirical results indicate that digital finance improves the quantity and quality of green technological innovation significantly. Compared with the coverage of digital finance and digital services, the impact of usage depth on green innovation accumulates dynamically superimposed in the long term. The digital finance contributes to correct the mismatch of financial resources and further induces inclusive green innovation in the dimension of ownership, growth cycle, and enterprise scale. Mechanism analysis shows that the relief of financial constraint, environmental information disclosure, and increase of R&D investment are the main paths for digital finance to drive green innovation. With the different thresholds, the dynamic evolution process of green innovation driven by digital finance is characterized by "first quantitative change and then qualitative change." This paper suggests that the integration of technological innovation and digital financial services needs to build an inclusive digital financial service system, cultivate diversified financial formats, and improve the market environment of digital financial services.

With the deteriorating ecological environment, green technological innovation (GTI) has become an effective way to strengthen environmental protection and promote economic development. Based on the 2011–2019 panel data of 30 provinces in China, this study constructs a spatial Durbin model to examine the spatial spillover effect of environmental regulation and digital finance on green technological innovation. Meanwhile, a moderating effect model and threshold effect model are employed to explore the function of digital finance in terms of the impact of environmental regulation on green technological innovation. The empirical results show that: 1) environmental regulation has significantly promoted local GTI, green invention patents (GIP) and green utility model patents (GUP), while having had negative spatial spillover effects on those three things in neighboring regions. Digital finance promotes GTI and GIP in both local and neighboring areas, but digital finance’s direct and spatial spillover effects on GUP are not significant. 2) A regional analysis shows that different intensities of environmental regulation and different digital finance levels in different regions lead to the heterogeneity of green technological innovation’s response to them. 3) Digital finance produces a positive moderating effect on environmental regulation affecting GTI and GIP in local and neighboring regions. However, digital finance’s moderating effect in terms of the influence of environmental regulation on GUP is not significant. 4) When digital finance reaches a certain threshold, environmental regulation will have a stronger role in promoting GTI. Therefore, to improve regional green technology innovation and environmental governance, the government should strengthen the integration of digital technology and financial services, and promote the construction of environmental supervision systems and green innovation policy systems.

Digital finance realizes the combination of finance and technology, makes up for many deficiencies of traditional finance, and brings opportunities for green and innovative development. However, systematic research on regional digital finance and green innovation is still lacking. Based on this, this study aims to analyze the impact of digital finance on the regional level of green innovation. For the analysis, the fixed-effect model, the mediating effect model, and the moderating effect model are used to perform regression on the panel data of Chinese cities. The results show that digital finance can significantly improve the level of regional green innovation. Improving the level of regional green financial services is its main mechanism, but the intermediary role of industrial structure optimization and upgrading fails to pass the test. In addition, the results of heterogeneity analysis show that digital finance plays a greater role in promoting green innovation in areas with high levels of traditional financial supply and Internet infrastructure construction. It is worth noting that digital finance does not really play the role of universal benefit, widening the regional green innovation gap. The main contributions of this study are to prove the positive effect of digital finance on green innovation at the regional level, clarify its transmission mechanism and urban heterogeneity analysis, and find that the current digital finance cannot bridge the gap of regional green innovation.

How does digital finance influence green technology innovation in China? Evidence from the financing constraints perspective

Purpose: This study examines the impact of digital financial services on economic expansion, technological advancements, and financial regulations. It explores how digital finance drives financial inclusion, enhances access to credit, and fosters economic growth while also addressing the associated challenges. Methodology: A systematic review approach was employed to analyze existing literature on digital finance, focusing on its influence on financial innovation, transaction efficiency, and regulatory adaptation. The study synthesizes findings from academic research, industry reports, and policy papers. Findings: The study reveals that digital finance significantly enhances financial inclusion by reducing transaction costs and expanding credit access. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and big data analytics have revolutionized financial services, improving efficiency, security, and accessibility. However, challenges such as cybersecurity risks, fraud, and regulatory inconsistencies persist. Regulatory bodies are adopting adaptive measures, including regulatory sandboxes and central bank digital currencies, to balance innovation with consumer protection. Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy, and Practice: This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of digital finance’s role in economic transformation. It provides policy insights for governments and regulatory bodies to design frameworks that promote financial innovation while ensuring security and stability. Additionally, it offers practical guidance for financial institutions on leveraging digital technologies to enhance service delivery and economic development.

Green technology innovation is an important driving force for the sustainable development of Chinese enterprises, and digital finance can play a huge driving role in the green technology innovation of enterprises. Digital finance is the current trend of financial innovation, which can promote the comprehensive development of economy and society. Digital finance has played a certain driving role in the green technology innovation of Chinese enterprises, but there are still many deficiencies. The empirical research discusses the micro driving mechanism of digital finance for green technology innovation of Chinese enterprises, finds the shortcomings and puts forward the direction of improvement, so as to more effectively realize the driving value of digital finance to green technology innovation of enterprises. It is found that the driving function of digital finance is significantly higher than that of digital finance application; digital finance has significant driving function of green design innovation and green product innovation, but green production innovation is weak. The regulating function of digital level and corporate social responsibility exist, but has not been fully played. The digital finance driving function of enterprises in eastern region is significantly higher than that of central and western enterprises, and the digital finance driving function of medium-sized enterprises is significantly higher than that of large and small enterprises.

Finance is significant support for the low-carbon transformation of the real economy, in which digital finance as a new direction of financial development exerts a significant influence on carbon emissions. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate the association between digital finance and carbon emissions in order to develop carbon reduction strategies from the financial side. For this purpose, using the sample set covering 30 provincial areas during 2011–2020, this paper investigates the direct, indirect, and non-linear effects of digital finance on carbon emissions by applying fixed effects, mediating effects, and threshold effects analysis techniques. The results indicate that: (1) digital finance can significantly mitigate carbon emissions at the national level. (2) Digital finance inhibits carbon emissions as it drives green technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading. (3) Significant regional heterogeneity is observed in the effect of digital finance on carbon emissions, i.e., the effects of digital finance on carbon emissions are higher in the east-central region than in the overall sample, while the opposite is true in the western region. (4) The dampening effect on carbon emissions steadily increases as digital finance levels cross the first and second thresholds, respectively. Based on the above considerations, policymakers shall not only develop differentiated digital finance initiatives, but shall also fully unleash carbon emission reduction potential by rationalizing and optimizing industrial layout and strengthening financial subsidies for green technology innovation.

The influences of digital finance on green technological innovation in China's manufacturing sector: The threshold effects of ESG performance

Based on the panel data of 282 cities at prefecture level and above in China from 2011 to 2019, this paper uses the fixed effect model to explore the impact of digital finance, green innovation and their associated effects on pollution emissions, and further builds a panel threshold model with digital finance as the threshold to explore the pollution reduction mechanism of green innovation. At the same time, the impulse response function is used to explore the long-term continuation mode and impact effect of the two on pollution emission. Finally, the different dimensions of digital finance, the degree of Internet use and regional heterogeneity are analyzed. The results show that: firstly, digital finance and green innovation significantly reduce pollution emissions during the period; Secondly, green innovation plays a positive and nonlinear role in promoting pollution reduction at different digital financial levels. Third, both digital finance and green innovation will reduce pollution emission level in the long term and the driving effect will gradually slow down over time. This paper provides reference value for the study of the relationship between digital finance, green innovation and pollution reduction, and has innovative and practical significance.

In recent years, digital finance has become a crucial part of the financial system and reshaped the mode of green finance in China. Digital finance has brought certain impact on economic growth, industrial structure, and resident income, which may affect pollution. The nexus of digital finance and environment in China is thus worth exploring. By revising the traditional Environmental Kuznets Curve model with income inequality variable, this paper decomposes the environmental effects of economic activities into income growth effect, industrial structure effect and income inequality effect, and use panel data of China’s provinces to conduct an empirical analysis. The results reveal the following: (1) the Environmental Kuznets Curve is still valid in sample, and digital finance can reduce air and water pollution (as measured through SO2 and COD emission) directly; (2) in the influence mechanism, digital finance can alleviate income inequality and promote green industrial structure, thus reducing pollution indirectly, but the scale effect of income growth outweighs the technological effect, which increases pollution indirectly; and (3) digital finance has a threshold effect on improving the environment, then an acceleration effect appears after a certain threshold value. From the regional perspective, digital finance development in eastern regions is generally ahead of central and western regions, and the effects of environmental improvement in the eastern regions are greater. According to the study, this paper suggest that digital finance can be an effective way to promote social sustainability by alleviating income inequality and environmental sustainability by reducing pollution.

Does digital finance promote the green innovation of China's listed companies?

As the mainstream financial modality in the digital economy era, digital finance drives industrial digitization and green transformation through capital and technological support, enabling governments to advance environmental governance with greater precision, efficiency, and sustainability. Utilizing 2012–2023 panel data from 31 Chinese provinces, this study innovatively constructs a multidimensional panel data model for the quantitative analysis of the overall impact, heterogeneous effects, and spatial spillover effects of digital finance on government environmental governance. It further examines the mediating effect and the threshold effects of new quality productive forces, and the moderated mediation effects of green technological innovation and industrial collaborative agglomeration. In this study, (1) digital finance significantly drives government environmental governance, and this finding exhibits robustness; (2) digital finance exerts heterogeneous impact on government environmental governance, with more pronounced effects in eastern and sub-developed regions; (3) digital finance generates positive spatial spillover effects on government environmental governance; (4) new quality productive forces positively mediate the relationship between digital finance and government environmental governance; (5) green technological innovation exhibits dual moderation characteristics, moderating both “digital finance → new quality productive forces” and “new quality productive forces → government environmental governance,” while industrial collaborative agglomeration shows single moderation, specifically moderating “new quality productive forces → government environmental governance”; (6) the impact of digital finance on government environmental governance presents a nonlinear feature of “increasing marginal returns.” On these accounts, this study proposes targeted recommendations from six dimensions.

Sustained and stable external financing, affected by the financial environment, is a necessary condition to support the green technological innovation of enterprises. This paper focuses on the impact of bettering the financial environment of digital finance on enterprise green technological innovation, as well as the mediating role of financing costs and financial flexibility in this process. Using China’s data on manufacturing enterprises listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2011 to 2018, the hypotheses are tested. The result suggests the following: (a) digital finance effectively promotes enterprises to carry out green technological innovation, specifically, the coverage and depth of digital finance can promote enterprises’ green technological innovation, but the degree of digitization has no significant impact; (b) digital finance improves the financial environment by making up the shortage of traditional financial system through reducing financing problems such as “financing difficulty,” “matching difficulty,” and “supervision difficulty,” which make effective contributions to enterprise green technological innovation; (c) financing costs negatively mediate the relationship between digital finance and enterprise green technological innovation, while financial flexibility positively mediates the relationship. Overall, our findings shed light on the role digital finance plays in shaping corporate environmental behavior—and ultimately innovation in sustainability—in financing constraint setting.

Digital finance, green technological innovation and energy-environmental performance: Evidence from China's regional economies