金融科技的区域碳减排效应

Regional Carbon Emission Reduction Effect of Financial Technology

推动经济社会低碳化是实现高质量发展的关键环节。文章利用2011—2021年中国城市面板数据,实证考察了金融科技发展与区域碳减排之间的因果关系及其作用机理。研究发现:金融科技能够显著抑制区域碳排放,在使用工具变量及一系列稳健性检验后,该结论仍然成立;机制检验发现,金融科技能够通过促进绿色创新和产业结构转型升级降低区域碳排放;异质性分析发现,金融科技的碳减排效应在环境政策越宽松、金融发展水平较落后以及市场化进程较缓慢的地区更加显著。研究结论为如何利用金融科技“赋能”以推进生态文明建设提供了经验证据。

Promoting economic and social low-carbonization is a key link in achieving high-quality development.This pa⁃per uses the panel data of the prefecture level cities in China during 2011-2021 to empirically test the impact mecha⁃nism of financial technology on regional carbon emission reduction.It is found that the development of fintech can signifi⁃cantly reduce the regional carbon emission,and the conclusion remains tenable after using instrumental variables and the robust tests.The mechanism analysis shows that the effect of fintech on urban carbon emission reduction can be achieved by promoting regional green technology innovation and upgrading industrial structure.Further,our heterogeneity analysis indicates that the impact of the fintech on regional carbon emission reduction is more reflected for regions with looser envi⁃ronmental policies,slower financial development and marketization.The research conclusions of this article provide em⁃pirical evidence on how to use financial technology to promote the construction of ecological civilization.