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The establishment of pilot zones for green finance reform and innovation (PZGFRI) is one of the important green finance policies in China and also an important means to achieve the goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. To further study the improvement effects of the PZGFRI on air quality, this study selected near-ground ozone concentration as the research object and empirically analyzed the impact of the PZGFRI on urban near-ground ozone pollution using the panel data of 215 cities in China from 2014 to 2019 by using the differential method and the synthetic control method. It further explored the moderating effect of foreign direct investment and financial development level and carried out robustness test by using event study, the placebo test, substitution of explained variables, control of other environmental policies, and quarterly data. The conclusions were as follows: ① During the sample period, the PZGFRI significantly reduced near-ground ozone pollution. There was heterogeneity in the impact of the PZGFRI in different geographical regions on near-ground ozone pollution. ② In the samples from the national level and the eastern region, foreign direct investment itself did not directly cause a significant‘ Pollution Heaven’ effect, but the increase of foreign direct investment was not conducive to the control of ozone pollution in the PZGFRI and indirectly caused the‘ Pollution Heaven’ effect. However, in the central and western regions, the increase of foreign direct investment was conducive to promoting the control of ozone pollution in the PZGFRI, which indirectly brought about the‘ Pollution Halo’ effect. ③ In the samples from the national level and the eastern region, the financial development level had no significant impact on ozone pollution itself, but the PZGFRI had a better effect on controlling ozone pollution in cities with a higher financial development level, i.e., the improvement of financial development level had strengthened the control effect of the PZGFRI on ozone pollution. However, in the central and western regions, the improvement in the financial development level did not significantly enhance the ozone pollution control effect of the PZGFRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]