The effects of green finance on enterprises' green innovation under the "dual carbon" goal: an exploratory study based on fsQCA.

With increasing environmental degradation, green finance and green innovation have attracted the attention of policymakers and industries. However, the impact of green finance on corporate green innovation is still unexplored. Based on signal theory, this study analyzes the mixed effect of green finance on green innovation in enterprises. We use data from 31 provinces (333 cities in total) in China in 2021 and use a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method. Green finance factors include green credit, green bond, green investment, green insurance, and green subsidy. Our research findings are as follows: Firstly, green innovation in businesses is not a product of a single antecedent situation but rather the interaction of several antecedent conditions. Green insurance and green subsidy are the core prerequisites for high green innovation in enterprises, and green credit plays an auxiliary role. Secondly, when there is a lack of green insurance, green bonds and green subsidies play a key role, leading to a high level of green innovation in businesses. Thirdly, the impact of various antecedents on the level of green innovation performance in enterprises is asymmetric. Policymakers should fully leverage the effect of green subsidy signals and minimize the risks of green innovation by expanding financing channels. Our findings enrich the literature on green innovation and finance and provide beneficial practical insights for green innovation in enterprises.
(© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)