Does green finance inspire sustainable development? Evidence from a global perspective

This study assesses the causal link between green finance (GF) and sustainable development (SD) at a global scale with the bootstrap rolling-window Granger causal relationship test. The empirical results demonstrate that GF produces positive impacts on SD in multiple subperiods, which supports interaction theory. However, this article does not reach a consistent conclusion on the issue of the direction from sustainable development to green finance. GFs are a vital financing tool for sustainable development agendas. However, the influence of GF on SD has not been proven. There is currently no empirical evidence on how it can be conducive to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. In this study, an empirical analysis of the influence of multiple stakeholders on SD through participation in green finance projects is conducted. Additionally, this analysis first identified different causalities in multiple subperiods. In a specific context, causality in a certain direction is crucial. Furthermore, we deemed that government and international organizations should guide high-quality green investment and risk prevention under the system framework. Finally, improving the classification standards, evaluation system, and information disclosure of GF can also promote the contribution of countries to sustainable development actions.