Assessment of the impact of green credit on energy transformation: Micro evidence from enterprises

The goal of accelerating energy transformation has generated a large demand for investment and financing. As an important policy tool connecting finance and the environment, whether green credit (GC) can play a role in supporting energy transformation remains to be verified. This paper innovatively examines the impact of GC on the energy transformation at the firm level, the main transmission mechanisms, and the heterogeneous effects. The results show that GC can effectively promote the energy transformation of enterprises. The increase in R&D expenditure, the improvement of technological innovation, and the alleviation of financing constraints are the main influencing mechanisms. In addition, improving government environmental regulation, public environmental attention, and information disclosure quality are effective measures to accelerate the energy transformation of enterprises under GC. The research results provide targeted recommendations for optimizing GC and promoting enterprise energy transformation.