Green financial structure and carbon emissions: A structural matching perspective

Although the carbon reduction role of green finance has been highlighted in the context of global warming, discussions on green finance have primarily focused on size rather than structure. Based on Chinese panel data from 2008 to 2019, this paper distinguishes itself by investigating the relationship between green financial structures and carbon emission intensity from a structural matching perspective using the two-way fixed effect model, system generalized method of moments model, quantile regression, and the mediating effect model. Our findings indicate that a green financial structure can lower overall carbon emission intensity and that an inverted U-shaped carbon emission mitigation effect results from a green financial structure. Additionally, green financial structures alleviate carbon emission intensity by facilitating the development of energy technology. Furthermore, greater degrees of finance-technology matching effectively lower carbon emission intensity. These findings provide lessons for countries striving to construct comprehensive and reasonable green financial systems to address climate change.