IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v69y2024ipbs1544612324012078.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of green finance on hydropower investments: A perspective of environmental law

Author

Listed:
  • Hong, Weiming
  • Luo, Jingwen
  • Du, Yu

Abstract

With growing global environmental concerns and the commitment to sustainable development and stricter environmental laws, green finance has emerged as an important means of supporting renewable energy projects. Using data from Chinese provinces from 2015 to 2021 as the research sample, this study, through the lens of environmental law, explores the relationship between green finance, environmental regulation intensity, and hydropower investment. Results show that green finance is positively correlated with hydropower investment, and environmental regulation intensity positively moderates this relationship. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the impact of green finance on hydropower investment is more pronounced in regions with higher education levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Hong, Weiming & Luo, Jingwen & Du, Yu, 2024. "Impact of green finance on hydropower investments: A perspective of environmental law," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(PB).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:69:y:2024:i:pb:s1544612324012078
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2024.106178
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612324012078
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2024.106178?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yu, Chin-Hsien & Wu, Xiuqin & Zhang, Dayong & Chen, Shi & Zhao, Jinsong, 2021. "Demand for green finance: Resolving financing constraints on green innovation in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    2. Yan, Zhijun & Jia, Yuting & Zhang, Bingbing, 2024. "Environmental protection taxes and green productivity: Evidence from listed companies in China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 48(4).
    3. Zhenghui Li & Fanqi Zou & Bin Mo, 2022. "Does mandatory CSR disclosure affect enterprise total factor productivity?," Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 4902-4921, December.
    4. Wang, Ailun & Si, Lulu & Hu, Shuo, 2023. "Can the penalty mechanism of mandatory environmental regulations promote green innovation? Evidence from China's enterprise data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    5. Tolliver, Clarence & Keeley, Alexander Ryota & Managi, Shunsuke, 2020. "Policy targets behind green bonds for renewable energy: Do climate commitments matter?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    6. He, Jie, 2006. "Pollution haven hypothesis and environmental impacts of foreign direct investment: The case of industrial emission of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in Chinese provinces," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 228-245, November.
    7. Zhang, Dongyang, 2022. "Environmental regulation and firm product quality improvement: How does the greenwashing response?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    8. Mascia Bedendo & Giacomo Nocera & Linus Siming, 2023. "Greening the Financial Sector: Evidence from Bank Green Bonds," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(2), pages 259-279, November.
    9. Zhou, Peng & Song, Frank M. & Huang, Xiaoqi, 2023. "Environmental regulations and firms' green innovations: Transforming pressure into incentives," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    10. Dayuan Li & Fei Tang & Lu Zhang, 2020. "Differential effects of voluntary environmental programs and mandatory regulations on corporate green innovation," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 103(3), pages 3437-3456, September.
    11. Yu, Yongze & Li, Ke & Duan, Shenglan & Song, Chenchen, 2023. "Economic growth and environmental pollution in China: New evidence from government work reports," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    12. Tang, Pengcheng & Jiang, Qisheng & Wang, Chao, 2024. "Beyond environmental actions: How environmental regulations stimulate strategic-political CSR engagement in China?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    13. Wang, Qunwei & Fan, Zining, 2023. "Green finance and investment behavior of renewable energy enterprises: A case study of China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    14. Ascher, William, 2021. "Rescuing responsible hydropower projects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    15. Wang, Ailun & Hu, Shuo & Lin, Boqiang, 2021. "Can environmental regulation solve pollution problems? Theoretical model and empirical research based on the skill premium," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    16. Xu, Yong & Li, Shanshan & Zhou, Xiaoxiao & Shahzad, Umer & Zhao, Xin, 2022. "How environmental regulations affect the development of green finance: Recent evidence from polluting firms in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 917-926.
    17. Brady, Jacob & Evans, Mary F. & Wehrly, Eric W., 2019. "Reputational penalties for environmental violations: A pure and scientific replication study," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 60-72.
    18. Di Chen & Haiqing Hu & Chun‐Ping Chang, 2023. "Green finance, environment regulation, and industrial green transformation for corporate social responsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(5), pages 2166-2181, September.
    19. Wu, Hong, 2023. "Evaluating the role of renewable energy investment resources and green finance on the economic performance: Evidence from OECD economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    20. Tang, Ying & Wang, Biliang & Pan, Ningning & Li, Zhiyong, 2023. "The impact of environmental information disclosure on the cost of green bond: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    21. Dai, Li & Xiong, Yuyu, 2023. "Does the green finance development and renewable energy affect the economic recovery in Asian economies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    22. Fang, Zhenming & Kong, Xiaoran & Sensoy, Ahmet & Cui, Xin & Cheng, Feiyang, 2021. "Government’s awareness of Environmental protection and corporate green innovation: A natural experiment from the new environmental protection law in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 294-312.
    23. Zhao, Jing & Zhao, Ziru & Zhang, Huan, 2021. "The impact of growth, energy and financial development on environmental pollution in China: New evidence from a spatial econometric analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    24. Bhutta, Umair Saeed & Tariq, Adeel & Farrukh, Muhammad & Raza, Ali & Iqbal, Muhammad Khalid, 2022. "Green bonds for sustainable development: Review of literature on development and impact of green bonds," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Di & Hu, Haiqing & Wang, Ning & Chang, Chun-Ping, 2024. "The impact of green finance on transformation to green energy: Evidence from industrial enterprises in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    2. Bai, Rui & Lin, Boqiang, 2023. "Nexus between green finance development and green technological innovation: A potential way to achieve the renewable energy transition," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    3. Wang, Ailun & Si, Lulu & Hu, Shuo, 2023. "Can the penalty mechanism of mandatory environmental regulations promote green innovation? Evidence from China's enterprise data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    4. Wang, Ailun & Hu, Shuo & Zhu, Mei & Wu, Mingxuan, 2024. "Customer contagion effects of voluntary environmental regulation: A supplier green innovation perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    5. Xin Yun & Yang Hu, 2024. "An Overview of the Evolution in the Research Landscape of Green Finance," World, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-32, December.
    6. Wanli Zhang & Bin Zhu & Yongling Li & Dan Yan, 2024. "Revisiting the Porter hypothesis: a multi-country meta-analysis of the relationship between environmental regulation and green innovation," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    7. Xu, Xiaoying & Jin, Mei & Gong, Xinshu, 2024. "Local environmental goal constraint intensity and corporate ESG performance: An empirical observation based on China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PB).
    8. Wang, Kai-Hua & Zhao, Yan-Xin & Jiang, Cui-Feng & Li, Zheng-Zheng, 2022. "Does green finance inspire sustainable development? Evidence from a global perspective," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 412-426.
    9. Wang, Mei Ling, 2023. "Effects of the green finance policy on the green innovation efficiency of the manufacturing industry: A difference-in-difference model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    10. Cui, Xin & Wang, Chunfeng & Sensoy, Ahmet & Liao, Jing & Xie, Xiaochen, 2023. "Economic policy uncertainty and green innovation: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    11. Xinyue Hao & Fanglin Chen & Zhongfei Chen, 2022. "Does green innovation increase enterprise value?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 1232-1247, March.
    12. Jia, Zhen & Li, He & Lu, Juan & Zhang, Yalong, 2024. "Can issuing carbon neutral bonds promote low-carbon investment in renewable energy industry?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    13. Lin, Boqiang & Xie, Yongjing, 2024. "The role of venture capital in determining the total factor productivity of renewable energy enterprises: In the context of government subsidy reduction," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    14. Xu, Mengmeng & Tan, Ruipeng & He, Xinju, 2022. "How does economic agglomeration affect energy efficiency in China?: Evidence from endogenous stochastic frontier approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    15. Chen, Wen & Zhu, Yufeng & He, Zehui & Yang, Yang, 2022. "The effect of local government debt on green innovation: Evidence from Chinese listed companies," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    16. Nie, Peng & Zhong, Juncheng & Ren, Zhengliang & Huang, Jinglei, 2024. "Sustainable financing solutions for the growth of resource-driven economies in the digital economy age," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    17. Ying Zhang & Shouming Chen & Yujia Li & Disney Leite Ramos, 2024. "Does Environmental Protection Law Bring about Greenwashing? Evidence from Heavy-Polluting Firms in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-20, February.
    18. Yu, Lianchao & Liu, Donghui & Liu, Qiang & Han, Hongling, 2025. "De-localization of environmental governance and corporate innovation structure: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PA).
    19. Ming Chen & Lina Song & Xiaobo Zhu & Yanshuo Zhu & Chuanhao Liu, 2023. "Does Green Finance Promote the Green Transformation of China’s Manufacturing Industry?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-22, April.
    20. Lu, Yuchen & Gao, Yuqiang & Zhang, Yu & Wang, Junrong, 2022. "Can the green finance policy force the green transformation of high-polluting enterprises? A quasi-natural experiment based on “Green Credit Guidelines”," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Green finance; Hydropower investment; Environmental regulation intensity; Sustainable development; Environmental law;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • K32 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Energy, Environmental, Health, and Safety Law
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • L94 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Electric Utilities

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:69:y:2024:i:pb:s1544612324012078. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.