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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Economics and Management
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1539987
This article is part of the Research Topic Advancing Carbon Reduction and Pollution Control Policies Management: Theoretical, Application, and Future Impacts View all 20 articles

The Role of Green Finance in Reshaping End-Use Energy Consumption: Insights from Regional Evidence in China

Provisionally accepted
Mingzheng Deng Mingzheng Deng 1Xiangyi Lu Xiangyi Lu 2*Ruibin Tong Ruibin Tong 3Yan Xue Yan Xue 4Shuaihang Shi Shuaihang Shi 1Rui Guo Rui Guo 5
  • 1 China University of Geosciences, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
  • 2 China University of Geosciences Wuhan, Wuhan, China
  • 3 University of Reading, Reading, England, United Kingdom
  • 4 Tianjin University of Commerce, Tianjin, Tianjin Municipality, China
  • 5 Rennes School of Business, Rennes, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Green finance plays a pivotal role in the transition towards a low-carbon economy by influencing energy consumption patterns. This study investigates the effects of green finance on optimizing the end-use energy consumption structure across 30 provinces in China between 2014 and 2021, employing a system GMM model and a panel threshold model. The findings reveal that green finance significantly reduces the reliance on high-carbon energy sources and fosters cleaner energy consumption, particularly in regions with advanced green financial systems. The impact exhibits nonlinearity, with the effectiveness of green finance becoming evident only after surpassing a certain threshold. Regional disparities are prominent, with eastern regions demonstrating stronger effects due to more mature financial infrastructures, while central and western regions experience comparatively weaker outcomes. Contrary to expectations, mediating factors such as industrial structure, energy efficiency, and green innovation show limited explanatory power in the observed impacts. These findings suggest tailored green financial policies and enhanced regional support mechanisms as pathways for accelerating sustainable energy transitions. This research contributes to the understanding of green finance as a transformative tool for energy governance and its role in achieving sustainable development goals.

    Keywords: green finance, End-use energy consumption structure, Sustainable energy transition, GMM model, Threshold effects

    Received: 05 Dec 2024; Accepted: 09 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Deng, Lu, Tong, Xue, Shi and Guo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xiangyi Lu, China University of Geosciences Wuhan, Wuhan, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.