Impact of green finance on industrial structure upgrading: implications for environmental sustainability in Chinese regions.

Marking green finance to revolutionize industrial structure and achieve environmental sustainability is increasingly critical. We explore the impact of green finance (GF) on industrial structure advancement and industrial structure rationalization employing the panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2020 in terms of technology inputs, environmental regulation, and green technology innovation. Results indicate that GF significantly stimulates China's industrial structure in both advanced and rationalization. The driving effect of GF on the industrial structure is mainly reflected in the advanced dimension of industrial structure in the eastern and economically developed area but mainly in the rationalization dimension of industrial structure in the economically less developed area. GF's role in facilitating industrial structure upgrading largely depends on technology inputs, environmental regulation, and green technology innovation.