The innovation effect of green finance reform-based on the green innovation vitality perspective

In order to develop green finance and realize the coordinated development of environment and economy, China set up green finance reform and innovation pilot zones in 2017. Taking the establishment of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones in China as an exogenous shock and based on the synthetic control method, this paper explores the impact of the pilot policies on green innovation vitality by taking five pilot provinces as the experimental group and 25 provinces without pilot policies as the control group. It is found that the pilot policy significantly enhances the level of green innovation dynamism in the pilot regions, but due to the different policy focuses, the innovation effect is immediate in Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guizhou, and Jiangxi, while the policy effect is significantly lagging behind in Xinjiang; government incentives are an important channel through which the policy enhances the green innovation dynamism; and the above findings are more significant in the samples of substantial green innovation dynamism and the eastern region. In addition, the extended economic consequences analysis shows that the pilot policy can significantly improve energy efficiency in the pilot region with a significant time lag. The findings of the study not only provide empirical evidence for the implementation effect of the green finance pilot policies, but also have practical implications for improving the green finance system and replicating and extending the green finance reform and innovation pilot zones.