Financial technology as a heterogeneous driver of carbon emission reduction in China: Evidence from a novel sparse quantile regression
China is facing tremendous pressure to reduce carbon emissions. This paper investigates the impact of financial technology (fintech) on carbon emissions reduction across Chinese provincial regions using annual data from 2011 to 2021. To comprehensively reflect the development level of fintech, we ut...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-04-01
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| Series: | Journal of Innovation & Knowledge |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2444569X24000167 |
| _version_ | 1797248285922033664 |
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| author | Weijie Chen Jie Wang Yafen Ye |
| author_facet | Weijie Chen Jie Wang Yafen Ye |
| author_sort | Weijie Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | China is facing tremendous pressure to reduce carbon emissions. This paper investigates the impact of financial technology (fintech) on carbon emissions reduction across Chinese provincial regions using annual data from 2011 to 2021. To comprehensively reflect the development level of fintech, we utilize web crawler technology and word frequency analysis to create new variables for measuring the technology level and innovation capability, with fintech-related keywords sourced from the Baidu index. Subsequently, we construct a fintech index for each province in China. Given the heterogeneous relationship between fintech and carbon emissions reduction, we employ an innovative sparse support vector quantile regression to explore the impact of fintech on carbon emissions reduction at different quantile levels. This method employs an Lp-norm regularization term to identify the key variables influencing carbon emission reduction. The empirical results indicate that fintech significantly reduces carbon emissions in all Chinese provincial regions. Furthermore, the positive effects of fintech on carbon emissions reduction are much stronger in high-carbon provinces than in low-carbon provinces. Consequently, it is imperative for policy-makers and practitioners to focus on increasing investment in digital infrastructure and enhancing digital services, particularly in Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Xinjiang provinces. The mechanism analysis reveals that fintech contributes to carbon emission reduction by promoting industrial structure upgrading in more economically developed provinces, while its mediating role is absent in less developed provinces. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T20:12:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8af7105743394ca5aaf363ce6d86bd8d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2444-569X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T20:12:10Z |
| publishDate | 2024-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Innovation & Knowledge |
| spelling | doaj.art-8af7105743394ca5aaf363ce6d86bd8d2024-03-23T06:25:26ZengElsevierJournal of Innovation & Knowledge2444-569X2024-04-0192100476Financial technology as a heterogeneous driver of carbon emission reduction in China: Evidence from a novel sparse quantile regressionWeijie Chen0Jie Wang1Yafen Ye2School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, PR China; Institute for Industrial System Modernization, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, PR ChinaSchool of Economics, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, PR ChinaSchool of Economics, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, PR China; Institute for Industrial System Modernization, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, PR China; Correspondence author.China is facing tremendous pressure to reduce carbon emissions. This paper investigates the impact of financial technology (fintech) on carbon emissions reduction across Chinese provincial regions using annual data from 2011 to 2021. To comprehensively reflect the development level of fintech, we utilize web crawler technology and word frequency analysis to create new variables for measuring the technology level and innovation capability, with fintech-related keywords sourced from the Baidu index. Subsequently, we construct a fintech index for each province in China. Given the heterogeneous relationship between fintech and carbon emissions reduction, we employ an innovative sparse support vector quantile regression to explore the impact of fintech on carbon emissions reduction at different quantile levels. This method employs an Lp-norm regularization term to identify the key variables influencing carbon emission reduction. The empirical results indicate that fintech significantly reduces carbon emissions in all Chinese provincial regions. Furthermore, the positive effects of fintech on carbon emissions reduction are much stronger in high-carbon provinces than in low-carbon provinces. Consequently, it is imperative for policy-makers and practitioners to focus on increasing investment in digital infrastructure and enhancing digital services, particularly in Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Xinjiang provinces. The mechanism analysis reveals that fintech contributes to carbon emission reduction by promoting industrial structure upgrading in more economically developed provinces, while its mediating role is absent in less developed provinces.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2444569X24000167C60 G20 R10 |
| spellingShingle | Weijie Chen Jie Wang Yafen Ye Financial technology as a heterogeneous driver of carbon emission reduction in China: Evidence from a novel sparse quantile regression Journal of Innovation & Knowledge C60 G20 R10 |
| title | Financial technology as a heterogeneous driver of carbon emission reduction in China: Evidence from a novel sparse quantile regression |
| title_full | Financial technology as a heterogeneous driver of carbon emission reduction in China: Evidence from a novel sparse quantile regression |
| title_fullStr | Financial technology as a heterogeneous driver of carbon emission reduction in China: Evidence from a novel sparse quantile regression |
| title_full_unstemmed | Financial technology as a heterogeneous driver of carbon emission reduction in China: Evidence from a novel sparse quantile regression |
| title_short | Financial technology as a heterogeneous driver of carbon emission reduction in China: Evidence from a novel sparse quantile regression |
| title_sort | financial technology as a heterogeneous driver of carbon emission reduction in china evidence from a novel sparse quantile regression |
| topic | C60 G20 R10 |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2444569X24000167 |
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