Has the establishment of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones improved air quality? Evidence from China
Abstract The role of finance in environmental sustainability is becoming increasingly important. This study conducts a quasi-natural experiment using a sample of 146 prefecture-level cities from 2015 to 2019. It adopts difference-in-differences to examine the impact of China’s green finance reform a...
Main Authors: | , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Springer Nature
2023-05-01
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Series: | Humanities & Social Sciences Communications |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01773-0 |
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author | Xiaoyang Xu Yufan Xie Emma Serwaa Obobisa Huaping Sun |
author_facet | Xiaoyang Xu Yufan Xie Emma Serwaa Obobisa Huaping Sun |
author_sort | Xiaoyang Xu |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Abstract The role of finance in environmental sustainability is becoming increasingly important. This study conducts a quasi-natural experiment using a sample of 146 prefecture-level cities from 2015 to 2019. It adopts difference-in-differences to examine the impact of China’s green finance reform and innovations pilot zones (GFRIs) on urban air quality. The findings show that air quality has improved after the establishment of GFRIs, indicating that GFRIs have the potential to control air pollution levels. The mechanism tests indicate that the GFRIs are conducive to improving air quality through industrial structure upgrading and green innovation. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analyses show that the air quality in the south of the Qinling Mountains-Huaihe River line, in large and well-developed financially scaled cities, has improved significantly after the establishment of GFRIs. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-13T09:03:47Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-9132bb4c09fe418bb1e5b66551c75039 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2662-9992 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-13T09:03:47Z |
publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
publisher | Springer Nature |
record_format | Article |
series | Humanities & Social Sciences Communications |
spelling | doaj.art-9132bb4c09fe418bb1e5b66551c750392023-05-28T11:11:09ZengSpringer NatureHumanities & Social Sciences Communications2662-99922023-05-0110111410.1057/s41599-023-01773-0Has the establishment of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones improved air quality? Evidence from ChinaXiaoyang Xu0Yufan Xie1Emma Serwaa Obobisa2Huaping Sun3School of Finance and Economics, Jiangsu UniversitySchool of Finance and Economics, Jiangsu UniversitySchool of Finance and Economics, Jiangsu UniversitySchool of Finance and Economics, Jiangsu UniversityAbstract The role of finance in environmental sustainability is becoming increasingly important. This study conducts a quasi-natural experiment using a sample of 146 prefecture-level cities from 2015 to 2019. It adopts difference-in-differences to examine the impact of China’s green finance reform and innovations pilot zones (GFRIs) on urban air quality. The findings show that air quality has improved after the establishment of GFRIs, indicating that GFRIs have the potential to control air pollution levels. The mechanism tests indicate that the GFRIs are conducive to improving air quality through industrial structure upgrading and green innovation. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analyses show that the air quality in the south of the Qinling Mountains-Huaihe River line, in large and well-developed financially scaled cities, has improved significantly after the establishment of GFRIs.https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01773-0 |
spellingShingle | Xiaoyang Xu Yufan Xie Emma Serwaa Obobisa Huaping Sun Has the establishment of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones improved air quality? Evidence from China Humanities & Social Sciences Communications |
title | Has the establishment of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones improved air quality? Evidence from China |
title_full | Has the establishment of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones improved air quality? Evidence from China |
title_fullStr | Has the establishment of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones improved air quality? Evidence from China |
title_full_unstemmed | Has the establishment of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones improved air quality? Evidence from China |
title_short | Has the establishment of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones improved air quality? Evidence from China |
title_sort | has the establishment of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones improved air quality evidence from china |
url | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01773-0 |
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