A Study on the Effects of Land Fiscal Policy and Digital Economy on the Efficiency of Urban Land Green Use in the Context of Climate Change

ABSTRACT Land use patterns, as a primary channel through which human activities impact the natural environment, constitute one of the key factors influencing global climate change. The study selects the super‐efficient SBM model to measure regional land green use efficiency (ULGUE) in China from 2010 to 2024. Based on this, we analyze spatial variations and evolution, ultimately verifying the influence of the digital economy and land finance on these outcomes. The conclusions are as follows: ULGUE shows a pattern of first declining and then rising, with the eastern region exhibiting the highest efficiency and the western region the lowest. Land finance exhibits a pronounced inverted U‐shaped relationship with ULGUE at both the national and eastern regional scales. Central regions demonstrate a significant positive effect, whereas western regions show a suppression effect. The digital economy exerts a significant positive impact nationally, in the east, and in central regions. Although positive trends exist in the less developed west, the influence remains insignificant. In‐depth analysis reveals that these two factors do not operate in isolation but form a mutually reinforcing virtuous cycle, collectively propelling ULGUE toward a qualitative leap toward intensive, efficient, and sustainable models. This paper novelizes by: providing the first theory of the coevolution of land finance and the digital economy, in which digital technologies correct path dependency in land‐based fiscal systems; using the system GMM method to detect nonlinear relationships and regional heterogeneity in the real world; and providing new evidence of the interaction between institutional changes and technological progress.