The effect of economic growth pressure on green technology innovation: Do environmental regulation, government support, and financial development matter?

Optimal environmental investment strategies for enterprise green technology innovation: An empirical study based on multiple drive models

Enterprise green technology innovation (GTI) is vital for global sustainable development. However, the optimal strategies are needed to understand how environmental investments (EIs) impact enterprise GTI. This study adopts multiple drive models to explore the impact of EIs on the GTI of A-share listed enterprises in China from 2008 to 2022. Our results show that EIs significantly promote enterprise GTI, and these findings are robust. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) and enterprises in the eastern and western regions benefit more from EIs in promoting GTI. Labor-intensive combinations of EIs contribute to the growth of enterprise GTI quantity, while technology-intensive combinations of EIs are detrimental to the growth of enterprise GTI quality. Specifically, the intermediary conduction mechanism identifies that EIs substantially enhance enterprise GTI through financial constraints, research and development (R&D) investment, and environmental awareness. The threshold test mechanism demonstrates that EIs inhibit enterprise GTI when the price-to-book (P/B) ratio crosses a certain threshold; however, EIs promote enterprise GTI once the book-to-market (B/M) ratio crosses the threshold. Our findings can provide valuable references for governments and enterprises, helping to promote environmentally sustainable development and economic growth.

The impact of economic growth targets on the level of green development-A perspective on officials' promotion incentives and environmental regulations

Currently, China is at a critical stage of accelerating the green transformation of its economic development model, with considerable attention being paid to achieving this transformation while maintaining moderate economic growth. This study uses 271 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2020 to examine the impact of local government economic growth target constraints on the level of green economic development and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. The results show that economic growth targets significantly inhibit the level of urban green development, with this effect being more pronounced in the economically developed eastern regions of China. Hard constraints on economic growth targets have a greater inhibitory effect on green development than soft constraints. The greater the promotion pressure on local officials, the stronger the inhibitory effect of economic growth target constraints on green development. The test of the mediation effect model reveals that economic growth targets can inhibit green development by affecting the degree of regional marketization, leading to mismatches in the capital and labor markets. Moreover, environmental regulations can mitigate the inhibitory effect of economic growth targets on green development levels. The conclusions of this study provide useful insights for local governments to optimize economic development target constraint mechanisms and accelerate high-quality green economic development.

Internet development, information availability, and Chinese enterprises' cooperative green technology innovation

Cooperative green technology innovation is potentially the answer to the lack of motivation for independent green innovation, which can effectively alleviate many difficulties faced by enterprises engaging in independent green innovation. Internet development provides new opportunities to stimulate innovative cooperation of enterprises. However, little literature has studied the impact of Internet development on enterprises' cooperative green technology innovation. Based on the data of Chinese A-share 3284 listed companies from 2010 to 2019, this paper uses a panel two-way fixed effects model to assess the effect of Internet development on enterprises' cooperative green innovation. The findings are: (1) Internet development significantly drives firms' collaborative green innovation behavior. The result remains robust even after performing a series of robust tests. (2) The Internet empowers green innovation cooperation among firms by improving information availability, including market information availability and technical information availability. (3) The heterogeneous results show enterprises use the Internet to accomplish high-quality collaborative green innovation. Internet development is more helpful in encouraging the cooperative green innovation of enterprises located in central cities and state-owned enterprises. This study provides novel and targeted policy implications to empower enterprises' green innovation cooperation and drive sustainable economic development through Internet development.

Navigating the innovation policy dilemma: How subnational governments balance expenditure competition pressures and long-term innovation goals

In the pursuit of economic growth, the role of innovation has become increasingly important, posing dilemmas for subnational governments as they navigate the balance between expenditure competition and long-term investments in innovation. This study aimed to investigate the intricate relationship between fiscal pressures and the pursuit of innovation goals faced by regional authorities. To achieve this, a systematic literature review was conducted, synthesizing more than 150 studies published within the past 15 years. Keyword searches were conducted across multiple databases, and additional scholarly articles were incorporated through citation tracking. Rigorous qualitative analysis techniques, including inductive coding and thematic analysis, were employed to distill conceptual insights from the literature. The analysis performed in this review reveals extensive discussions regarding the influence of competition on innovation outcomes, encompassing a wide range of perspectives. The potential advantages of localization are emphasized by some viewpoints, while others caution against the risks of inadequate investment. The effective coordination of policies across multiple levels of governance to maximize synergies between national and subnational innovation systems emerges as a complex yet crucial challenge. It is observed that collaborative networks, which facilitate knowledge exchange through industrial clustering and public-private linkages, play a significant role in leveraging regional innovation assets. Strategic approaches that successfully balance competition with long-term capacity development have been demonstrated by leading jurisdictions. These findings highlight the significance of tailored policy frameworks that account for the unique contexts of each region, providing opportunities to harness competitive motivations while sustaining investments in innovation. Ongoing coordination is essential to strike a balance between responsiveness and coherence across diverse territories. This study offers practical guidance and academic insights on strategies to align decentralized imperatives, aiming to optimize prosperity through knowledge creation within evolving multi-level innovation systems. By shedding light on these strategies, the research contributes to both practical and academic understandings of how to effectively navigate and capitalize on the dynamics of such systems.

Green investor behavior and corporate green innovation: Evidence from Chinese listed companies

Businesses embracing green innovation can encourage high-quality green economic development in addition to reducing emissions. In this paper, we use the Difference-in-Differences (DID) to investigate the influence of green investor behavior on the green innovation of companies, using the first-ever green investor investment in a company as a quasi-natural experiment. According to research, green investors have the power to accelerate corporate green innovation greatly. Three key strategies that green investors can use to do this include raising institutional investment levels, enhancing the green perception of executives, and bringing in top talent. Heterogeneity analysis shows that non-high-polluting, big, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are more likely to benefit from green investors' green innovation effects. Further analysis reveals that (ⅰ) green investors' influence on an enterprise's level of green innovation can help it improve its ESG ratings; (ii) green investors can encourage green innovation in source control but have little effect on green innovation in end-of-pipe treatment; (ⅲ) green investors can support both non-green and green innovation in enterprises, but have a greater influence on green innovation. This study strengthens the micro relationship between green investors and corporate green innovation. It also supports the theoretical underpinnings of corporate green innovation, which is significant for advancing green innovation, environmental protection, and high-quality economic development in emerging economies.

Mitigating environmental pollution in China: Unlocking the potential for high-quality innovation

The nexus between environmental pollution (EP) and technological innovation is crucial for achieving sustainable development. However, existing literature has paid less attention to the new form of high-quality innovation (HI) in environmental management. This paper uses panel data from 31 Chinese provinces from 2008 to 2020, employing the two-stage least squares method to investigate the relationship between HI and EP. The empirical results reveal that HI can effectively reduce the EP, which holds after multiple robustness tests, and this effect is more obvious in southern China. Meanwhile, HI drives clean and efficient energy transition and decreases EP. Moreover, increased environmental regulation weakens the influence of HI on EP. The major contributions of this study are constructing an HI index including innovation, human capital, and government support and examining its influence on EP in China. The findings encourage government to implement policies of innovation-driven transformation, energy conservation and emissions reduction.

Examining public private partnership investment in energy towards achieving sustainable development goal 7 for ASEAN region

The gradual progress in aligning financial flows with the adoption of clean technologies reveals a persistent funding gap, signaling a global misallocation of capital. Addressing this challenge necessitates political leadership and robust policies to counteract the insecurities impeding the redirection of financial flows. This study investigates into the impact of energy-related public-private partnership investments (PPPIE) and macro-environmental variables on the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) across Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries from 1999 to 2021. Employing the Dynamac command technique, we conduct autoregressive distribution lag analysis and the Bounds Cointegration Test to evaluate ASEAN's efforts in achieving SDG7. Results indicate that a ten-year exogenous shock to the GDP growth rate initially causes a temporary decline in both GDP and PPPIE, albeit not statistically significant. However, in the long run, the shock becomes statistically significant, correlating with a negative decline in the GDP growth rate. This underscores the negative impact of external factors like the COVID-19 pandemic on the economic growth of ASEAN member countries. Specifically, a percentage increase in PPPIE leads to an 8.3% reduction in the GDP growth rate, revealing a detrimental and unsustainable impact on the economy. This signifies that energy investments in the ASEAN region, are predominantly unsustainable and adversely impact economic growth. Moreover, these energy investments contribute to a significant 52.6% increase in greenhouse gas emissions, indicating a substantial setback in the region's progress towards meeting SDG7's clean energy objectives by 2030. This suggests the present state of PPPIE does not align with sustainable clean energy goals of the region. Therefore, recommendations should include diversifying energy sources and investment strategies to enhance sustainable clean energy. Also, policymakers and researchers should reassess the terms and conditions of PPPIE, refining frameworks for private sector involvement to align with long-term economic sustainability goals.

Can new urbanization pilot policies promote green technology innovation in cities: Empirical evidence from China

The development of urbanization has brought new challenges to the ecological environment, and the promotion of green technology innovation and development is widely recognized as an essential method to achieve cities' economic benefits and environmental protection. This paper examines whether the new urbanization pilot policies (NUP) increase green technology innovation (GTI) from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. This paper examines the impact of new urbanization on GTI by analyzing data from 285 cities in China between 2010 and 2021, using the multi-period DID model with the implementation of NUP as an exogenous policy shock. The study results indicate that NUP significantly affects GTI, and the conclusion still holds after the parallel trend test, placebo test, and other robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the NUP significantly enhances GTI in low environmental pollution, non-resource-based, Medium-sized, and Central Region cities. The test of moderating effect shows that NUP has a "linkage effect" with the government's environmental attention, financial investment in innovation, and regional talent pooling. The findings of this paper provide empirical evidence and decision-making reference for promoting NUP and sustainable development of cities.

A study on the impact of ESG rating on green technology innovation in enterprises: An empirical study based on informal environmental governance

Improving corporate green technology innovation is a key link in achieving green transformation and development. Compared with formal environmental regulations that force companies to carry out green innovation passively, ESG ratings under soft environmental regulations can better stimulate the internal motivation of companies. This study uses the ESG ratings of listed companies published for the first time by SynTao Green Finance as an exogenous impact. Taking China's A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2022 as a research sample, the multi-period differences-in-differences model was used to empirically test the impact of ESG rating soft supervision on corporate green technology innovation. The results show that the impact of ESG rating events as a soft market regulation has a significant positive impact on the improvement of corporate green technology innovation. This conclusion still holds after a series of robustness tests. Meanwhile, enterprise digital transformation plays a positive regulatory role. The heterogeneity test shows that the green technology innovation of state-owned enterprises is more affected by ESG ratings. Mechanism research has found that ESG rating events promote corporate green technology innovation by easing corporate financing constraints and reducing managerial myopia. Further research found that under the influence of the external environment, intensified market competition and increased attention from the capital market are also conducive to the improvement of corporate green technology innovation. This study strengthens the corporate ESG concept under the guidance of green development and provides empirical evidence for promoting corporate green transformation.

Extreme high temperatures and corporate low-carbon actions

Greenhouse gas emissions are considered the culprit of extreme high temperatures, and low-carbon transformation has become a global consensus. The low-carbon action by enterprises is an inevitable choice if they are to adapt to economic and social needs. Green innovation is an important measure for enterprises to respond to the challenges of low-carbon transformation. This study mainly discusses the causal relationship between extreme high temperatures and green innovation of enterprises. Using China's industrial enterprise database, we construct county-annual panel data from 2000 to 2013. Results show that extreme high temperatures improve the level of green innovation of enterprises. After a series of robustness tests, the results remain. Mechanism analysis shows that extreme high temperatures increase the environmental concerns of the government, the public, and society, thus strengthening government regulation, public participation, and social supervision as well as encouraging enterprises to carry out green innovation. Our heterogeneous analysis shows that in the eastern region with a high level of legal system and economic development, it is easier to promote green innovation for enterprises. In addition, large-scale enterprises are more willing to carry out green innovation after experiencing a heat wave.

Guided by the goal of "double carbon", what is the carbon emission reduction effect of the promotion and application of green technology in China?

"Carbon peaking and carbon neutralization" is an important measure to promote China's ecological and environmental protection and high-quality economic development, and the innovation and application of green technology are critical factors in achieving the "double carbon" goal. Based on the number of citations of green patents of listed enterprises in 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, this paper uses GGDP to replace traditional GDP and calculate carbon emission intensity. Based on the relevant panel data at the provincial level, this paper constructs a spatial Durbin model to analyze the impact mechanism of whether the promotion and application of green technologies promote regional carbon emission reduction. The specific research results are as follows: (1) Through regression of the core explanatory variables with a one-stage lag, it is verified that the promotion and application of green technology has a significant positive promoting effect on regional carbon emission reduction, and there are significant spatial spillover effects and "learning by doing" effects. (2) In the part of heterogeneity test, the impact of green technology promotion and application on carbon emission reduction presents apparent regional heterogeneity and factor endowment heterogeneity. (3) The mediating effect test verifies the mediating effect of energy structure and industrial structure on the influence of green technology promotion and application on regional carbon emission reduction. (4) In the part moderating effect test, it is verified that marketization level and new infrastructure construction have a positive moderating effect in their influencing process, financial development, and government support will weaken the influence of green technology promotion and application on carbon emission reduction effect, and human capital level has a nonlinear regulating effect. The research conclusions of this paper provide necessary enlightenment for the coordination and unification of China's economic transition to innovation-driven and green and low-carbon development.

Balancing growth targets and environmental regulations: An empirical analysis of dual policy impact on corporate environmental responsibility-insights from China

Balancing economic growth with environmental conservation poses a universal challenge for governments worldwide. This study investigates the intricate interplay between governments' economic-environmental trade-offs and their implementation of policies aimed at promoting Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER). Given the discretion of Chinese local governments in economic and environmental policy, we take China as a case study. To conduct this research, we first merge critical data on China's economic growth targets and environmental regulations with information on listed enterprises. Then, we employ a "U-shaped" relationship model to examine the impact of these trade-offs on CER implementation. The results reveal that: (1)The effective fulfillment of CER by enterprises is primarily driven by stricter environmental regulations. (2) Economic growth targets can, to some extent, diminish the policy effect of environmental regulations on CER fulfillment. (3)The crowding-out effect of economic growth targets is particularly pronounced within specific subsets of enterprises, including state-owned enterprises, heavily polluting firms, and those facing high profit pressure. These findings imply that when local governments implement contradictory policies, they must consider not only enterprises' political connections and economic contributions but also pay close attention to the survival dilemma of enterprises. This balancing act aims to harmonize conflicting policy objectives. This research deepens the understanding of how institutional and policy frameworks impact enterprise engagement in CER, especially within the context of governments' economic-environmental trade-offs. It sheds light on the strategies employed by China and other emerging economies to effectively leverage contradictory policies to foster sustainable green growth.

Environmental regulations and agricultural carbon emissions efficiency: Evidence from rural China

Reducing carbon emissions while maintaining simultaneous economic growth has been the focus of agricultural and environmental management research in recent times. To examine the influence of agricultural environmental regulations and related factors on agricultural carbon emissions efficiency, the entropy method was utilized to weigh each index and develop an index system for evaluating agricultural environmental regulations. This study utilizes the Super Slacked-Based Measure model that takes into account undesirable outputs. The research data used spans the years 2010-2019 and covers 31 provinces in China to calculate the efficiency of agricultural carbon emissions. A spatial Durbin model was employed to investigate the influence of environmental regulations and other influential factors on the efficiency of agricultural carbon emissions. The efficiency levels in the eastern region of China have consistently exceeded the national average, whereas the central region has demonstrated the lowest efficiency levels across the nation. Both the efficiency of agricultural carbon emissions and the intensity of agri-environmental regulations measured in this paper are strongly spatially autocorrelated between provinces. The environmental regulations index on local agricultural carbon emissions efficiency is significantly positive, while the effect on the agricultural carbon emissions efficiency in adjacent areas is not significant. Overall, agricultural environmental regulations effectively enhance agricultural carbon emissions efficiency, which in turn promotes technological innovation and economic growth. At the same time, local governments should actively adopt targeted strategies based on the actual situation of different regions in terms of their resource endowments and differences in the production characteristics of different crops.

Financial development, resource richness, eco-innovation, and sustainable development: Does geopolitical risk matter?

Financial development and geopolitical risks can significantly affect sustainable development. However, the roles of these factors in sustainable development are rarely investigated. Thus, this study takes into account the role of geopolitical risk while exploring the effects of financial development, natural resource rents, and eco-innovation on sustainable development in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. To this end, yearly data from 1990 to 2019 is analyzed using advanced econometric tests. The Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) results indicate that financial development and eco-innovation are significantly and positively related to sustainable development. Natural resource rents have a detrimental impact on sustainable development which confirms the presence of the resource curse hypothesis in OECD countries. Furthermore, the results revealed that controlling geopolitical risk is useful in fostering sustainable development. Lastly, the panel Granger causality test unveiled one-way causality from financial development, eco-innovation, natural resource rents, and geopolitical risk to sustainable development. Moreover, causalities are found from geopolitical risk to financial development, eco-innovation and natural resources. These findings suggest that OECD countries should prioritize financial development and eco-innovation policies for sustainable development while mitigating the negative effects of natural resource rents. The geopolitical risk can harm sustainable development, so policymakers should promote international cooperation and risk-sharing.

The impacts of carbon emissions trading scheme on green finance: evidence from China

China enacted and implemented a carbon emissions trading pilot policy in 2011, and whether this carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS) can promote the development of green finance is crucial to realizing a win-win situation for both environmental and economic performance. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2007 to 2019, this study constructs a multi-period double-difference model (DID) to explore the impact of carbon ETS on the development of green finance and uses the spatial Durbin model (SDM) to test whether there is a spatial spillover effect of the carbon ETS on the development of green finance. The results show that (a) the implementation of carbon ETS significantly promotes the development of green finance, and this conclusion still holds through a series of robustness tests; (b) the promotion effect of the carbon ETS on the development of green finance is more significant in eastern and western provinces, non-resource-based provinces, and provinces with a high level of openness to the outside world; (c) industrial structural upgrading and green innovation play pivotal roles in achieving the desired outcomes of carbon ETS; (d) carbon ETS have spatial spillover effects on the development of green finance, with the indirect effects being more significant than the direct effects. The findings of this study can serve as a valuable reference for expediting the establishment of a unified national carbon market and the development of a robust green financial system. This holds immense significance in effectively implementing the "dual-carbon" strategy.

Carbon intensity constraint, economic growth pressure and China's low-carbon development

Within the context of promotion tournaments among local governments, the management of economic growth goals plays a crucial role in China's economic development. Despite China's rise as the second-largest economy globally, it has also emerged as the largest emitter of carbon emissions. Since the implementation of the 12th Five-Year Plan in 2011, the Chinese central government has made carbon intensity targets mandatory indicators for national economic development. This has prompted local governments to pursue low-carbon growth and adjust their economic growth targets (EGT) to comply with carbon intensity constraints. In this study, a sample of 282 prefecture-level cities in China is used to empirically examine the impact of carbon intensity constraints on total factor carbon emission efficiency (TCE) using the intensity difference-in-differences (DID) framework. The study also emphasizes the role of the transmission channel for economic growth pressure (EGP). The findings of the study reveal several key results. Firstly, the implementation of carbon intensity constraints leads to an average increase of 8.24% in total factor carbon emission efficiency (TCE), which is supported by robustness tests, parallel trend analysis, and placebo tests. Secondly, these constraints result in an average decrease of 0.1828 in local governments' economic growth targets (EGT) and a reduction of 0.1269 in economic growth pressure (EGP). Thirdly, cities with a higher proportion of secondary industry experience a more significant mitigation effect, although the promotion of provincial EGT hinders this effect. Fourthly, synergistic policies can effectively promote low-carbon development, and government expenditure on technology and marketization can facilitate a positive relationship between carbon intensity constraints and TCE. Lastly, the effects of carbon intensity constraints vary across the east, middle, and west regions, suggesting the presence of heterogeneity. The article proposes a shift in the assessment of lower governments by superior governments, from growth assessment to low-carbon growth assessment.

Can China's carbon intensity constraint policies improve carbon emission performance? Evidence from regional carbon emissions

Carbon Intensity Constraint Policies (CICPs) are vital for addressing climate change challenges and advancing sustainable development. Since 2010, China has rolled out three five-year CICPs. However, there is limited understanding of their impact on carbon emission performance (CEP). Addressing this, this study pioneers the exploration of the CICP's impact on China's CEP. Drawing from government intervention and green paradox theories, this study highlights a concerning scenario: local governments achieve emission targets via excessive intervention. For deeper insights, this study melds the overall technology frontier concept with a non-radial, non-angle directional distance function, introducing a novel efficiency model rooted in the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. This offers a CEP measure across 30 Chinese provincial regions from 2002 to 2019. Using the quasi-difference-in-differences (quasi-DID) and moderated mediation models, this study ascertains the presence of the green paradox, uncovers its reasons, and suggests mitigation strategies. The results indicate that high government intervention diminishes CEP. This negative effect intensifies under greater regional fiscal pressure. Alarmingly, local authorities' eagerness to meet targets shows a counterproductive, inverted N-shaped trend regarding CICPs' time-based influence on regional CEP. Moreover, the impact varies based on regional economic development levels and stages. This study has ensured the robustness of the findings via parallel trend tests, parallel exclusion policies, a strengthened quasi-DID framework, and diverse control variable configurations. This study underscores the need for more balanced government intervention. It offers valuable policy insights, guiding China's upcoming CICP phase to realize the ambition of peaking carbon by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

Bipolar neutrosophic WINGS for green technology innovation

Green technology innovation is a crucial assurance of achieving sustainable economic and environmental development, so improving the capability of green technology innovation is an urgent problem. In order to provide a more objective and accurate tool for identifying the most important impact factor of green technology innovation, this study innovatively proposes a new method by combining the bipolar neutrosophic sets with Weighted Influence Nonlinear Gauge System (WINGS) method. Furthermore, this paper intends to provide recommendations in improving green technology innovation capability. We invite five experts to evaluate fifteen factors influencing green technology innovation using the bipolar neutrosophic linguistic variables. Then, the proposed bipolar neutrosophic set WINGS (Bipolar NS-WINGS) method is applied to measure the influence of each impact factor of green technology innovation. Finally, we divide all the factors into cause group and effect group. Moreover, the network relation map is constructed to visualize the interrelationships between all impact factors. The Bipolar NS-WINGS suggests that Science and Technology Innovation Environment (Ω7) is the most important factor of green technology innovation. The result also indicates that R&D Investment (Ω8) is the most influential factor in which it has impacted many other factors. It is obvious that the integrated method not only enriches the research in the field of decision theory, which has not combined the bipolar-NS and WINGS method for analyzing relationships of factors, but also contributes to the improvement of green technology innovation capabilities.

Unleashing the power of informatization: How does the "information benefiting people" policy affect green total factor productivity?

Information development is a necessary means for China to achieve technology force and an effective path toward sustainable development. Regarding the "information benefiting people" policy led by the Chinese government as a quasi-experiment of information technology, this study builds an analysis framework for the impact of informatization on green total factor productivity (GTFP). Based on panel data at the Chinese city level from 2006 to 2019, this study further empirically evaluates the mechanism path, heterogeneity, and spatial spillover effects between informatization and GTFP by using a difference-in-difference (DID) model, a mediating model, and a spatial DID model. The results show that (1) the information benefiting people policy contributes considerably to greater GTFP levels in the pilot cities; (2) the policy also promotes the rapid growth of GTFP by fostering the advancement of education, the share of the number of ICT employees, and green technology innovation; (3) the information benefiting people policy raises GTFP in the eastern cities, small cities, and non-old industrial based cities; and (4) the policies lead to a large rise in local GTFP levels, but a decline in GTFP in surrounding cities. This paper offers valuable reference suggestions for the Chinese government to implement informatization-policies to support green development.

Digital finance and regional green innovation: the perspective of environmental regulation

The relationship between digital finance and regional green innovation has been partially confirmed, yet the role of environmental regulation in it remains unexplored. Therefore, this paper examines the impact of digital finance on regional green innovation and tests the moderating role of environmental regulation using Chinese city-level data from 2011 to 2019 as a research sample. The results show that digital finance can significantly promote regional green innovation by alleviating regional financing constraints and increasing regional R&D investment. Besides, digital finance has apparent regional difference effects (the contribution of digital finance to regional green innovation is greater in eastern China than in western China, and the development of digital finance in neighbouring regions has a negative transmission effect on local green innovation). Finally, environmental regulation positively moderates the relationship between digital finance and regional green innovation. This paper explores the relationship between digital finance and regional green innovation from the perspective of environmental regulation, providing empirical evidence to promote regional green innovation.

How does environmental regulation influence green technological innovation? Moderating effect of green finance

The main factor behind green economic development is green technology innovation (GTI). Environmental regulation and green finance (GF), as important ways to promote ecological civilization construction, run through the entire procedure of GTI. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of heterogeneous environmental regulation on GTI and the moderating effect of GF on GTI from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, to provide useful ideas for China's economic reform path selection and environmental governance system optimization. This paper uses information from 30 provinces between 2002 and 2019, and a bidirectional fixed model was constructed. The results show that: First, regulatory environmental regulation (ER₁), legal environmental regulation (ER₂), and economic environmental regulation (ER₃) all have greatly boosted the degree of GTI in each province. Second, GF acts as a highly effective moderator between heterogeneous environmental regulation and GTI. Finally, this article investigates how GF can act as a moderator in various circumstances. The beneficial moderating effect of it is found to be more pronounced in inland areas, areas with weak spending on research and development, and areas with high energy consumption. These research results provide valuable references for accelerating the green development process in China.