The Impact of Green Finance on Carbon Emission--Analysis Based on Mediation Effect and Spatial Effect

Abstract

Carbon emission reduction is critical to realizing China’s “Carbon Peak” and “Carbon Neutrality” goals. Green finance plays an essential role in accomplishing carbon emission reduction. Given the importance, this study builds and tests a causal model that specifies the direct and indirect interconnection of green finance and carbon emission reduction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China from 2006 to 2019. The received data reports are from national and local statistical offices. The unit root test and multicollinearity test proves the data are stationary and free from multicollinearity, which builds a foundation for constructing a regression model. The Hausman test provides the evidence for the selection of time and individuals double fixed effects. The stepwise regression model explains the mediation role of technological innovation in the green finance and carbon emission relationship which confirms the rationality of the theoretical assumptions. The spatial Durbin model (SDM) is applied using Stata version 16 for analysis purposes to measure the strength of the relationships which exist among the studied variables. Through the endogeneity test, the reliability of the model results has been demonstrated. The empirical outcomes indicate that it is the Yangtze River Economic Belt that has existed a significant spatial effect of reducing carbon emission, and the various provinces have shown mutual restraint effects of carbon emission. The findings show that green finance has a prominent adverse direct impact on carbon emission, but the spillover effect of green finance on neighboring provinces are seemingly insignificant. A green finance development alliance, green financial reform, and innovation pilot zone should be promoted. The generalizability of the study offers valuable insights for imminent researchers. The research findings could be beneficial for policymakers.