Spatial pattern and the development of green finance trends in China

As China continues to experience rapid economic growth and urbanization, there is growing concern about the environmental impact of this development. To address this issue, China has made significant efforts to promote green finance, such as through the issuance of green bonds and the establishment of green credit policies. This study aims to fill this knowledge gap by analyzing the spatial pattern of green finance initiatives and identifying factors that contribute to this pattern. This study analyzes data on green finance initiatives in China from 2014 to 2021. This study applies difference-in-differences, mediation effects, and panel vector autoregression models to empirically examine the impact mechanism and policy intervention effects of inclusive green funding on the development of green finance. According to the results, green grants enormously boost green innovation, and these impacts hold across estimators.The results of this study indicate that the spatial pattern of green finance in China is strongly influenced by regional economic development, with more developed regions such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong having higher levels of green finance activity. The findings of this study have important implications for policy makers in China and other countries that are looking to promote sustainable development through green finance initiatives. •China is promoting green finance amid rapid economic growth and urbanization.•Green grants significantly boost green innovation across regions.•Regional economic development is a key factor in the spatial pattern of green finance.