Impact of Digital Inclusive Finance on Urban Carbon Emission Intensity: From the Perspective of Green and Low-Carbon Travel and Clean Energy

This paper uses the non-balanced panel data of 285 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2017 and the Peking University Digital Inclusive Finance Index to examine the impact of the development of digital inclusive finance on urban carbon emission intensity. The results show that the development of digital inclusive finance has a significantly negative impact on urban carbon emission intensity. By using the spherical distance between various cities and Hangzhou as an instrumental variable to deal with the potential endogeneity problem, the results still hold. Mechanism analysis shows that digital inclusive finance can reduce urban carbon emission intensity by promoting green and low-carbon travel modes of public transport and the use of clean energy. Compared with other regions, the effect of digital inclusive finance in reducing urban carbon emission intensity is more significant in the western region and in cities with low economic development. Against the background of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, we find that accelerating the development of digital inclusive finance can effectively promote the green and low-carbon transition of cities.