Green finance policy and new energy system: Information disclosure, sharing, and costs

To achieve the "dual carbon" targets, energy transition becomes crucial, with green finance policy (GFP) acting as a crucial enabler in facilitating the shift. Meanwhile, changes in the information environment, including trends in sustainable information disclosure, transparency, and the digital transformation of information, are attracting attention. This research investigates the influence of GFP on the new energy system (ES) through an information lens. Utilizing data from A-share listed companies in China from 2010 to 2023, and employing the difference-in-differences (DID) approach, the study finds that GFP has a positive influence on ES. Information has a multifaceted moderating effect: while information disclosure strengthens the policy's impact, information sharing and associated costs have adverse effects. The heterogeneity analysis indicates that the policy is particularly more effective in firms with higher levels of ES, especially in non-state-owned, large-scale, high-pollution, finance-dependent, and well-managed companies. This study is the first to decompose the information environment into three dimensions-disclosure, sharing, and costs-and systematically examine their moderating effects on GFP's impact on ES, which enriches the related theoretical research and provides policy insights to support China and other developing nations in advancing the ES.