Study on the Impact of Green Finance and Environmental Regulations on Haze Pollution in China

With the rapid economic growth in China, the years from 2012 to 2017 witnessed a severe outbreak of haze pollution. In response, numerous enterprises were shut down or forced to reduce production, leading to significant negative impacts on the economy and society. Consequently, the scientific management of haze pollution has become a focal point of China’s environmental research. This paper explores the influence of green finance and environmental regulations on haze pollution, employing spatial autoregressive and spatial Durbin models to conduct an empirical analysis based on panel data from 30 Chinese provinces spanning 2000 to 2017. The following conclusions were thus drawn: from 2010 to 2017, the green finance index of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region and Liaoning Province, which suffered severe haze pollution, showed an overall downward trend; efforts to strengthen environmental regulations played an important role in reducing air pollution, especially the PM2.5 level; the improvement in the green finance level can help reduce haze pollution; and green finance has an obvious spatial spillover effect. A number of policy recommendations were proposed on this basis, including strengthening inter-regional cooperation and exchanges in green finance, promoting the scientific application of environmental regulations in areas with serious haze pollution, strengthening the implementation of green finance strategies in areas with serious haze pollution, and establishing regional green finance demonstration zones. The purpose of this study is to provide meaningful support for China’s scientific management of haze pollution through an analysis of the impact of green finance and policy optimization. The innovative aspects of this research lie in its pioneering use of spatial econometric models to investigate the role of green finance and environmental regulations in controlling haze pollution. The findings reveal that advancements in green finance can significantly alleviate haze pollution.