Abstract: With increasing global warming and environmental risks, China has to promote the reduction of pollution and carbon emissions for an all-round green transition in the new stage of development. Synergizing the reduction of pollution and carbon emissions is a task of great urgency, while it must be done without launching a campaign-style movement. China should have a thorough understanding of the dialectical relationship between the market and the government, make full use of green finance and green fiscal policy to form a green and low-carbon system, and achieve reduction effects in the long run. Previous studies have mainly examined the effect of green finance on lowering pollution or carbon emissions, with little comparison of the two effects. Few researches, which mostly focused on theoretical analysis, have studied the reduction effect by combining green finance and green fiscal policy in the same framework. To accelerate the reduction of pollution and carbon emissions, this paper takes the panel data of 30 Chinese mainland provinces and municipalities from 2007 to 2020 (excluding Tibet)as samples, adopts the two-way fixed effect and mediating effect model, and tests the pollution and carbon reduction effect and mechanism of green finance. The threshold model is also used in this study, which investigates the nonlinear effects of green taxes and green fiscal expenditure on green finance in order to clarify the nexus among green finance, green fiscal policy, and the reduction of pollution and carbon emissions.
The results are as follows: (1)Green finance can significantly inhibit carbon emissions and pollution. The pollution reduction effect is greater than the carbon reduction effect, meaning that the potentiality of green finance is still large. (2)Optimizing industrial structure is an important path because of its indirect effects on the reduction of pollution and carbon emissions. (3)Green taxes and green fiscal expenditure have threshold effects on green finance. When the scale of the green tax is between 0.12% and 2.41%, it will enhance the pollution reduction effect of green finance and ensure its carbon reduction effect. When the scale of green fiscal expenditure is between 4.16% and 4.21%, it will improve the pollution reduction effect of green finance. (4)Compared with the green tax, green fiscal expenditure works better at controlling air pollutants and carbon emissions.
Based on the aforementioned findings, the policy implications are as follows: (1)Financial institutes need to continue expanding and upgrading green finance offerings to optimize industrial structure. Financial institutions, for instance, might develop novel green finance products to meet various financing demands. By including carbon emissions into the financing requirements, which are intended to reduce carbon emissions and support industrial structure, a long-term mechanism for pollution and carbon reduction can be formed. (2)The local government should adjust the green tax rates and scale. For provinces with low green tax rates, the tax rate on taxable resources and pollutants should be appropriately raised, and the scale of green tax should be adjusted within a reasonable range. For major energy production areas, green fiscal policies such as tax incentives or fiscal subsidies should be adopted to enhance the effect of green finance. (3)Local governments should optimize green fiscal expenditure. Green fiscal expenditure cannot grow indefinitely due to budgetary constraints. Thus, local governments could pay more attention to carbon emissions by adjusting the spending scope, releasing policy signals, and showing determination to address the problem of carbon emissions, enhancing the effects of green finance on pollution and carbon emissions.

Key words: Green Finance, Green Fiscal Policy, Reduction of Pollution and Carbon Emissions, Green Tax, Green Fiscal Expenditure

摘要： 绿色金融作为重要的减排工具,在合理的绿色财政引导下,有助于放大资源配置效能,强化减污降碳效应。基于此,本文以2007—2020年中国大陆30个省区市(不含西藏)的省级面板数据为样本,采取双向固定效应和门槛效应模型,探索绿色金融的减污降碳效应及绿色财政的门槛效应。研究发现:(1)绿色金融存在显著的减污降碳效应,且减污效应大于降碳效应。(2)绿色金融可通过优化产业结构抑制污染物和二氧化碳排放。(3)绿色税收和绿色财政支出对绿色金融具有门槛效应。当绿色税收规模处于0.12%—2.41%之间时,有助于增强绿色金融的减污效应,同时确保其降碳效应。当绿色财政支出规模处于4.16%—4.21%,有助于提高绿色金融的减污效应。(4)相较于绿色税收,绿色财政支出治理大气污染物和二氧化碳的效果更为明显。研究结论为完善绿色金融制度、优化绿色税收和绿色财政支出提供政策启示,有助于进一步推进减污降碳。

关键词: 绿色金融, 绿色财政, 减污降碳, 绿色税收, 绿色财政支出