How does digital finance drive energy transition? A green investment-based perspective

Abstract Green investments (GIs) in the energy industry are crucial for driving a clean energy transition and fostering environmental sustainability. In the digital economy era, insufficient attention has been paid to digital finance’s (DF’s) influence on GIs in energy enterprises, potentially underestimating its impact. Our study utilized a two-way fixed-effects model, analyzing data from 108 listed energy firms from 2011 to 2020, to empirically investigate the influence of DF on GIs in China’s energy industry. The research findings are as follows: (1) An increase of one unit in DF can improve the intensity of GIs in the energy industry by 0.03% by alleviating financing constraints, increasing cash flow, and…