Research on the impact of resource dependence and green finance on the efficiency of green development

Resource dependence entrenches environmental inefficiency in resource-based cities, yet whether green finance can mitigate this structural lock-in remains unclear. Using a balanced panel of 113 prefecture-level cities in China from 2007 to 2022, we measure green development efficiency via a super-SBM model. We find that resource dependence significantly undermines green development efficiency, but this adverse effect is attenuated by green finance and becomes statistically insignificant at high levels of green-finance penetration. Further analysis highlights industrial-structure adjustment and green technological innovation as two important transmission channels. Heterogeneity analysis reveals substantial variation across city development stages and regions, with the moderating effect particularly evident in mature-stage and declining-stage cities and a comparatively larger estimate in northwestern China. Results remain robust under alternative efficiency indicators, lagged-outcome specifications, and instrumental-variable estimations. Moreover, a comparison with non-resource-based cities confirms that this moderating role is contingent on a highly resource-dependent economic structure. Thus, green finance can be viewed as a targeted structural-corrective tool for resource-dependent contexts, rather than merely a one-size-fits-all environmental subsidy. These insights offer important policy implications for differentiated green finance deployment in resource-based regions.