ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Economics and Management
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1669416
This article is part of the Research TopicFinancial Development, Institutions, and Markets in the Era of Climate ChangeView all 4 articles
Revealing the Impact of Fintech on Energy Saving and Carbon Reduction Innovation
Provisionally accepted
Bingbing Yu1
Fuming Zhao2*- 1Hangzhou Dianzi University Department of Information Engineering, Hangzhou, China
- 2Jiyang College, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Zhuji, China
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Financial technology (fintech) is the application of cutting-edge technology in the financial sector, with potential value for the low-carbon economic transition. In the context of intensified global warming, using fintech to promote energy saving and carbon reduction innovation (ESCRI) presents a thought-provoking practical challenge. This study utilizes data from 30 Chinese provinces spanning 2011 to 2022 to empirically examine whether fintech can improve ESCRI. Results revealed that first, fintech significantly promotes ESCRI, a conclusion supported by a series of robustness tests. Second, the main pathways through which fintech affects ESCRI are industrial scale, investment expansion, and R&D expenditure. Third, in provinces with poor environmental quality, lagging industrial upgrading, and in the central and western regions, fintech's positive effect on ESCRI is more significant. Fourth, fintech demonstrates a significant impact on reducing carbon emissions. The results of this study provide strong evidence for actively utilizing fintech to promote ESCRI on a global scale and offer empirical insight into the underlying logic of green and low-carbon development.
Keywords: FinTech, energy saving and carbon reduction innovation, Scale effect, Investment effect, R&D
Received: 19 Jul 2025; Accepted: 16 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yu and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fuming Zhao, zhaofuming@zafu.edu.cn
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