How does digital finance reduce carbon emissions intensity? Evidence from chain mediation effect of production technology innovation and green technology innovation

Yan Jiang; Ruizeng Zhao; Guozhen Qin

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e30155

How does digital finance reduce carbon emissions intensity? Evidence from chain mediation effect of production technology innovation and green technology innovation

Heliyon. 2024 Apr 23;10(9):e30155. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e30155. eCollection 2024 May 15.

Authors

Yan Jiang¹, Ruizeng Zhao^{2

3}, Guozhen Qin⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Business, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai, 200433, China.
² School of Economics and Management, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, Sichuan, 621000, China.
³ School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China.
⁴ Sichuan Jiuzhou Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd, Mianyang, 621000, China.

Abstract

The digitalization of finance drives economic development and plays a crucial role in energy conservation and carbon emission reduction. Utilizing carbon emissions data from 2011 to 2020, we find that digital finance development can mitigate carbon emissions intensity (CEI) by approximately 0.14 %. Then, we employ a diverse set of robustness and endogeneity tests to assess the reliability of the empirical findings. Moreover, the study delves into how digital finance impacts CEI through production technology innovation (PTI) and green technology innovation (GTI). The results indicate a positive effect of PTI on CEI. GTI exerts a negative influence on CEI. In addition, there is a chain mediation effect between PTI and GTI in the baseline path. Finally, the impact of digital finance on CEI exhibits apparent regional heterogeneity.

Keywords: Chain mediation effect; Digital finance; Green technology innovation; Low carbon development; Production technology innovation.