The impact of green finance on energy transition: Does climate risk matter?

With increased concerns regarding environmental deterioration and a growing understanding of the need for sustainable development, measures to promote energy transition (ET) have become a hot issue among academics and policymakers. In contrast to previous ET research, this study explores the impact of green finance (GF) on China's ET by considering the role of climate risk in the period from 2011 to 2020. Our results indicate that GF development has a significant impact which accelerates ET, and the effects are heterogenous, demonstrating that GF is more likely to be instrumental in driving ET in regions with more advanced socioeconomic circumstances and more favorable sustainable development environments. We also find that climate risk has a moderating role and a threshold effect on the GF–ET nexus is evident, indicating that climate risk has an unfavorable role in accelerating energy transformation. These findings offer valuable insights into advancing the sustainable ET and suggests that the government specifically prioritize the impact of climate risk in the development and deployment of a GF framework.