Research On The Impact Of Digital Financial Inclusion On Corporate Green Innovation

In recent years,China has actively responded to the call for global green and low-carbon circular development,deeply grasped the development stage in which China is located,fully implemented the new development concept,promoted high-quality development,and put green and innovation in a prominent position.Green innovation can balance economic and environmental benefits,breaking the "either/or" situation of economic growth and environmental protection.From the perspective of the number of applications and authorizations of green patents,the level of green technology innovation in China is on the rise,and the number of authorized green patents has increased from 19,000 in 2008 to184,000 in 2021,but its proportion in innovation is low.In October 2020,the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed in the outline of the 14 th Five-Year Plan and the long-term goals for 2035 to accelerate green and low-carbon development and support green technology innovation;In February 2021,the issuance of the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment and Improvement of a Green and Low-carbon Circular Development Economic System continued to emphasize the acceleration of building a market-oriented green technology innovation system.As one of the important subjects in building a market-oriented green technology innovation system,how to improve the green innovation ability of enterprises has become a research hotspot.Based on the panel data of A-share listed enterprises in Shanghai and Shenzhen from2011 to 2020,this paper combines the municipal digital inclusive financial index and enterprise green innovation data to investigate the impact of digital inclusive finance and its three sub-dimensions on enterprise green innovation.To explore the mechanism of digital financial inclusion on enterprise green innovation,as well as the existence of regional heterogeneity,industry heterogeneity,and enterprise heterogeneity.The results show that:First,digital financial inclusion can promote green innovation of enterprises.On the one hand,compared with strategic green innovation,digital financial inclusion has a particularly significant role in promoting substantive green innovation of enterprises,and the conclusion is still valid after a series of robustness tests.On the other hand,the three sub-dimensions of digital financial inclusion can promote green innovation of enterprises,especially the degree of digitalization is more significant than the breadth and depth of use.Second,digital financial inclusion can effectively promote green innovation through two channels:alleviating the financing constraints faced by enterprises and reducing the leverage level of enterprises.Third,the impact of digital inclusive finance on enterprise green innovation has significant heterogeneity among regions,industries and enterprises,and at the regional level,compared with the eastern region with fast development,high resource endowment and good innovation background,digital finance has a more significant role in promoting the green innovation of enterprises in the central and western regions.At the same time,digital finance has a more obvious role in promoting enterprises in highly polluting industries,high-tech industries,non-state-owned enterprises,and enterprises with integrated two jobs with external or intrinsic innovation drivers.According to this paper,the development of digital inclusive finance is an important driving force to enhance the green innovation ability of enterprises,and it is necessary to continue to accelerate the development of digital finance,improve the construction of digital financial supporting systems,implement differentiated digital financial support policies,guide and encourage green innovation of enterprises,and achieve high-quality economic development.