The criticality of environmental sustainability in agriculture: The decarbonization role of green finance in China.

Agricultural pollution is highly valued by developing countries, and green financial services are a key support for breaking the carbon lock-in in agriculture during the process of globalization. This study examined the inhibitory effect of green finance (GF) on agricultural carbon emissions (ACE), using data from 207 cities in China from 2006 to 2022 as the research sample and adopting the fixed-effect model for the study. This study suggests that applying green finance can effectively mitigate the generation of agricultural carbon emissions. By evaluating heterogeneity, it was found that the inhibitory level is higher in the western region. To further explore this issue, two variables, Digital Infrastructure (DI) and Green Technological Innovation (GTI), were introduced for in-depth investigation, and it was proved that the two variables have a mediating effect. In view of these insights, it is suggested that Chinese government departments should enhance policy support and application efforts for green finance, combine the improvement of digital infrastructure with the level of green technology, optimize the allocation of agricultural industry resources, and facilitate the green transformation of agriculture. This strategic shift is in line with breaking the carbon lock and achieving the sustainable development goals of agriculture.