From green finance to sustainable innovation: how to unleash the potential of China's high-tech industry.

Green finance is acknowledged as a critical policy tool in China's sustainable development sector, with the goal of lowering the financial burden associated with ecological transformation for Chinese firms. This research examines the impact of green finance on the green innovation efficiency of the high-tech industry in China, within the context of carbon neutrality. Using a panel dataset covering 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China from 2013 to 2021, we analyze the effects of green finance on green innovation efficiency. Our findings indicate that green finance significantly improves the green innovation efficiency of the high-tech industry, even after robustness testing. Furthermore, this paper also explores the threshold effect of industrial agglomeration on the relationship between green finance and green innovation efficiency, specifically in terms of specialization, diversity, and competition. We verify that green finance reduces the costs of green transformation for enterprises, leading to a substantial improvement in the green innovation efficiency of the high-tech industry. These results shed light on the factors influencing green innovation efficiency and provide theoretical insights and implications for policymakers, entrepreneurs, and financial institutions to reconcile economic growth and sustainability goals.