DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY, ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND GREEN FINANCE: THE U-SHAPED RELATIONSHIP AND SPATIAL EFFECT

Green and low-carbon development is the direction of the current technological revolution and industrial transformation.Digital technology innovation and application should aim at green and lowcarbon development.Therefore, studying the impact of digital technology innovation on green finance aligns with current development needs.To this end, this paper employs econometric methods to examine the impact of digital technology innovation on green finance, using panel data from 282 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2022.The study reveals that digital technological innovation exerts a significant U-shaped influence on the development of green finance, initially hindering growth before promoting it.However, the strength of this effect varies depending on factors such as resource endowments and geographical regions.Digital technology innovation can enhance green finance development by improving environmental quality.Furthermore, it can have a U-shaped impact on the green finance development of surrounding areas through spatial spillover effects.