IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/engenv/v35y2024i7p3673-3702.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Digital finance and inequality in renewable energy technology innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Xing Zhao
  • Jing Zhao

Abstract

The development of renewable energy is a strategic deployment to address climate change and ensure energy security. Frontier research generally focuses on the impact of renewable energy development and technological innovation on environmental protection and neglects the inequality in renewable energy technology innovation. This paper constructs a renewable energy technology innovation inequality index and analyzes the impact of digital finance on renewable energy technology innovation inequality using panel data from 30 regions in China from 2011 to 2018. The study found that digital finance can alleviate inequality in renewable energy technology innovation. The mechanism test results show that digital finance can optimize green credit allocation, promote technology flow, and optimize energy consumption structure, thus reducing inequality in renewable energy technology innovation. Further analysis shows that the differences in local government governance, environmental regulation, financial supervision, marketization, digital divide, and renewable energy category affect the relationship between digital finance and inequality in renewable energy technology innovation. This paper clarifies the relationship between digital finance and inequality in renewable energy technology innovation and provides new ideas for renewable energy technology innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Xing Zhao & Jing Zhao, 2024. "Digital finance and inequality in renewable energy technology innovation," Energy & Environment, , vol. 35(7), pages 3673-3702, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:engenv:v:35:y:2024:i:7:p:3673-3702
    DOI: 10.1177/0958305X231171352
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0958305X231171352
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0958305X231171352?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maria Demertzis & Silvia Merler & Guntram B Wolff, 2018. "Capital Markets Union and the Fintech Opportunity," Journal of Financial Regulation, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(1), pages 157-165.
    2. Jakob B. Madsen & Md. Rabiul Islam & James B. Ang, 2010. "Catching up to the technology frontier: the dichotomy between innovation and imitation," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 43(4), pages 1389-1411, November.
    3. Da Gao & Yi Li & Qiuyue Yang, 2021. "Can pollution charges reform promote industrial SO2 emissions reduction?—Evidence from 189 China’s cities," Energy & Environment, , vol. 32(1), pages 96-112, February.
    4. Bai, Caiquan & Feng, Chen & Du, Kerui & Wang, Yuansheng & Gong, Yuan, 2020. "Understanding spatial-temporal evolution of renewable energy technology innovation in China: Evidence from convergence analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    5. Lianying Yao & Xiaoli Yang, 2022. "Can digital finance boost SME innovation by easing financing constraints?: Evidence from Chinese GEM-listed companies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(3), pages 1-20, March.
    6. Hu, Yue & Liu, Chang & Peng, Jiangang, 2021. "Financial inclusion and agricultural total factor productivity growth in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 68-82.
    7. Hongyan Zhao & Wanteng Zheng & Irina Loutfoullina, 2022. "Digital Finance and Collaborative Innovation: Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-15, August.
    8. Ozili Peterson K., 2021. "Digital Finance, Green Finance and Social Finance: Is there a Link?," Financial Internet Quarterly (formerly e-Finanse), Sciendo, vol. 17(1), pages 1-7, March.
    9. Lv, Chengchao & Song, Jie & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2022. "Can digital finance narrow the regional disparities in the quality of economic growth? Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 502-521.
    10. Shang, Hua & Jiang, Li & Pan, Xianyou & Pan, Xiongfeng, 2022. "Green technology innovation spillover effect and urban eco-efficiency convergence: Evidence from Chinese cities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    11. Sung, Bongsuk, 2019. "Do government subsidies promote firm-level innovation? Evidence from the Korean renewable energy technology industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 1333-1344.
    12. Zhao, Ge & Zhou, P. & Wen, Wen, 2022. "What cause regional inequality of technology innovation in renewable energy? Evidence from China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    13. Wen, Huwei & Lee, Chien-Chiang & Zhou, Fengxiu, 2021. "Green credit policy, credit allocation efficiency and upgrade of energy-intensive enterprises," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    14. Hao, Yu & Gai, Zhiqiang & Wu, Haitao, 2020. "How do resource misallocation and government corruption affect green total factor energy efficiency? Evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    15. Yang, Qiuyue & Gao, Da & Song, Deyong & Li, Yi, 2021. "Environmental regulation, pollution reduction and green innovation: The case of the Chinese Water Ecological Civilization City Pilot policy," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 45(4).
    16. Wu, Yilin & Huang, Shilei, 2022. "The effects of digital finance and financial constraint on financial performance: Firm-level evidence from China's new energy enterprises," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    17. Lei Jin & Keran Duan & Xu Tang, 2018. "What Is the Relationship between Technological Innovation and Energy Consumption? Empirical Analysis Based on Provincial Panel Data from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, January.
    18. Hou, Qingsong & Hu, May & Yuan, Yuan, 2017. "Corporate innovation and political connections in Chinese listed firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA), pages 158-176.
    19. Hsu, Po-Hsuan & Tian, Xuan & Xu, Yan, 2014. "Financial development and innovation: Cross-country evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 116-135.
    20. Yan, Zheming & Zou, Baoling & Du, Kerui & Li, Ke, 2020. "Do renewable energy technology innovations promote China's green productivity growth? Fresh evidence from partially linear functional-coefficient models," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    21. Tao Kong & RenJi Sun & Guanglin Sun & Youtao Song, 2022. "Effects of Digital Finance on Green Innovation considering Information Asymmetry: An Empirical Study Based on Chinese Listed Firms," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(15), pages 4399-4411, December.
    22. Jess Benhabib & Jesse Perla & Christopher Tonetti, 2014. "Catch-up and fall-back through innovation and imitation," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 1-35, March.
    23. Gao, Da & Li, Ge & Yu, Jiyu, 2022. "Does digitization improve green total factor energy efficiency? Evidence from Chinese 213 cities," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    24. Min Hong & Zhenghui Li & Benjamin Drakeford, 2021. "Do the Green Credit Guidelines Affect Corporate Green Technology Innovation? Empirical Research from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-21, February.
    25. Daron Acemoglu, 2003. "Labor- And Capital-Augmenting Technical Change," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(1), pages 1-37, March.
    26. Jingrong Li & Bowen Li, 2022. "Digital inclusive finance and urban innovation: Evidence from China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 1010-1034, May.
    27. Vujanović, Nina & Stojčić, Nebojša & Hashi, Iraj, 2021. "FDI spillovers and firm productivity during crisis: Empirical evidence from transition economies," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 45(2).
    28. Wu, Haitao & Hao, Yu & Ren, Siyu, 2020. "How do environmental regulation and environmental decentralization affect green total factor energy efficiency: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    29. Li, Jie & Wu, Yu & Xiao, Jing Jian, 2020. "The impact of digital finance on household consumption: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 317-326.
    30. Ge, Tao & Cai, Xuesen & Song, Xiaowei, 2022. "How does renewable energy technology innovation affect the upgrading of industrial structure? The moderating effect of green finance," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 1106-1114.
    31. Guoxiang Li & Rong Zhang & Suling Feng & Yuqing Wang, 2022. "Digital finance and sustainable development: Evidence from environmental inequality in China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3574-3594, November.
    32. Ellabban, Omar & Abu-Rub, Haitham & Blaabjerg, Frede, 2014. "Renewable energy resources: Current status, future prospects and their enabling technology," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 748-764.
    33. Malin Song & Jun Tao & Shuhong Wang, 2015. "FDI, technology spillovers and green innovation in China: analysis based on Data Envelopment Analysis," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 228(1), pages 47-64, May.
    34. Naishu Yu & Yanzhe Wang, 2021. "Can Digital Inclusive Finance Narrow the Chinese Urban–Rural Income Gap? The Perspective of the Regional Urban–Rural Income Structure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-18, June.
    35. Pitelis, Alkis & Vasilakos, Nicholas & Chalvatzis, Konstantinos, 2020. "Fostering innovation in renewable energy technologies: Choice of policy instruments and effectiveness," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 1163-1172.
    36. Yang, Ying & Campana, Pietro Elia & Yan, Jinyue, 2020. "Potential of unsubsidized distributed solar PV to replace coal-fired power plants, and profits classification in Chinese cities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    37. Jiang, Mingrui & Luo, Sumei & Zhou, Guangyou, 2020. "Financial development, OFDI spillovers and upgrading of industrial structure," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    38. Md Abdullah Omar & Kazuo Inaba, 2020. "Does financial inclusion reduce poverty and income inequality in developing countries? A panel data analysis," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 9(1), pages 1-25, December.
    39. Eapen, Alex & Yeo, Jihye & Sasidharan, Subash, 2019. "Finance constraints and technology spillovers from foreign to domestic firms," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 50-62.
    40. Minli Yu & Fu-Sheng Tsai & Hui Jin & Hejie Zhang, 2022. "Digital finance and renewable energy consumption: evidence from China," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-19, December.
    41. Pan, Xiuzhen & Wei, Zixiang & Han, Botang & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2021. "The heterogeneous impacts of interregional green technology spillover on energy intensity in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(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. Jin, Laiqun & Dai, Jiaying & Jiang, Weijie & Cao, Kairui, 2023. "Digital finance and misallocation of resources among firms: Evidence from China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Shen, Hongshan & Qin, Mengyao & Li, Tianyi & Zhang, Xuan & Zhao, Yang, 2024. "Digital finance and industrial structure upgrading: Evidence from Chinese counties," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PB).
    3. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Ho, Shan-Ju, 2022. "Impacts of export diversification on energy intensity, renewable energy, and waste energy in 121 countries: Do environmental regulations matter?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 1510-1522.
    4. Wang, Quan-Jing & Tang, Kai & Hu, Hai-Qing, 2022. "The impact of digital finance on green innovation: Evidence from provinces in China," Innovation and Green Development, Elsevier, vol. 1(1).
    5. Geng Tian, 2022. "Influence of Digital Finance on Household Leverage Ratio from the Perspective of Consumption Effect and Income Effect," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-11, December.
    6. Hongyan Zhao & Wanteng Zheng & Irina Loutfoullina, 2022. "Digital Finance and Collaborative Innovation: Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-15, August.
    7. Zhang, Dan & Zheng, Mingbo & Feng, Gen-Fu & Chang, Chun-Ping, 2022. "Does an environmental policy bring to green innovation in renewable energy?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 1113-1124.
    8. Wei Yu & Huiqin Huang & Keying Zhu, 2023. "Enhancing Construction Enterprise Financial Performance through Digital Inclusive Finance: An Insight into Supply Chain Finance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-16, June.
    9. Lin, Boqiang & Wang, Zhijun, 2024. "Do local government investment preferences influence renewable energy technology innovation? Evidence from China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    10. Feng, Chen-Yu & Yang, Xiaodong & Afshan, Sahar & Irfan, Muhamamd, 2023. "Can renewable energy technology innovation promote mineral resources’ green utilization efficiency? Novel insights from regional development inequality," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    11. Razzaq, Asif & Sharif, Arshian & Ozturk, Ilhan & Skare, Marinko, 2023. "Asymmetric influence of digital finance, and renewable energy technology innovation on green growth in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 310-319.
    12. Sun, Yanan & You, Xiaotong, 2023. "Do digital inclusive finance, innovation, and entrepreneurship activities stimulate vitality of the urban economy? Empirical evidence from the Yangtze River Delta, China," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    13. Mo Du & Ruirui Zhang & Shanglei Chai & Qiang Li & Ruixuan Sun & Wenjun Chu, 2022. "Can Green Finance Policies Stimulate Technological Innovation and Financial Performance? Evidence from Chinese Listed Green Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-28, July.
    14. Dongjing Chen & Xiaotong Guo, 2023. "Impact of the Digital Economy and Financial Development on Residents’ Consumption Upgrading: Evidence from Mainland China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-25, May.
    15. Ren, Siyu & Hao, Yu & Wu, Haitao, 2022. "The role of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) on green total factor energy efficiency: Does institutional quality matters? Evidence from China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    16. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Wang, Fuhao & Lou, Runchi & Wang, Keying, 2023. "How does green finance drive the decarbonization of the economy? Empirical evidence from China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 671-684.
    17. Weixiang Zhao & Yankun Xu, 2022. "Public Expenditure and Green Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from Chinese Prefecture-Level Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-27, May.
    18. Yue, Sishi & Yang, Mo & Dong, Dayong, 2024. "Do enterprises adopting digital finance exhibit higher values? Based on textual analysis," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    19. Haikuo Zhang & Chaobo Zhou, 2023. "Construction of the Pilot Free Trade Zone and Chinese Green Total Factor Energy Efficiency," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-13, June.
    20. Limei Ma & Qianying Wang & Dan Shi & Qinglong Shao, 2023. "Spatiotemporal patterns and determinants of renewable energy innovation: Evidence from a province-level analysis in China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.

    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:sae:engenv:v:35:y:2024:i:7:p:3673-3702. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.