The Impact of Setting up Pilot Zones for Green Finance Reform and Innovations on Industrial Carbon Emission Intensity

With the rise of the Industrial Revolution, economic development and technological progress have been accompanied by increasingly severe environmental issues. Global warming poses threats and adverse impacts on humanity's long-term development. Many countries have begun taking measures to curb pollution, and the actions of developed nations have provided valuable experience for Developing a green financial system for a sustainable future. Therefore, green finance has emerged. Regarded as the world's largest industrial producer, there is a relatively high proportion of industrial carbon emissions in China. To achieve sustainable goals, China needs to focus on measures addressing industrial carbon emissions. In 2017, China launched the policy to set up pilot zones for green finance reform and innovations, aiming to explore effective pathways for green finance development through local pilots (GFPZ), thereby reconciling economic growth with environmental protection. The empirical strategy of this research is based on a difference-in-differences (DID) model, a quasi-experimental design used to estimate the policy's causal effect on industrial carbon emission intensity (ICEI). What is more, a conclusion could be found verified by the research---- this policy accounts for lessening industrial carbon emission intensity, and this effect could remain statistically significant under the employment of robustness tests.