The impact of green finance on corporate environmental performance: the moderating role of economic policy uncertainty

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:This paper offers robust causal estimates using multiple methods, valuable for scholars studying the interaction between macro uncertainty and green finance effectiveness.

🏢実務担当者:Corporate sustainability teams can use these insights to advocate for stable policy environments and incorporate EPU risk into green investment decisions.

🏛政策担当者:Policymakers should recognize that reducing economic policy uncertainty is critical to maximizing the environmental benefits of green finance, especially in emerging economies.

Green finance has emerged as a critical mechanism for enhancing corporate environmental performance (CEP) and achieving global sustainability goals. However, the effectiveness of green finance may be influenced by macroeconomic conditions, particularly economic policy uncertainty (EPU), which can alter firms' investment behavior and long-term environmental strategies. This study investigates the impact of green finance on CEP and examines the moderating role of EPU across different economic contexts. The study employs a balanced panel dataset of 23,454 firm-year observations from the United States, United Kingdom, China, and selected Asia-Pacific economies over the period 2014–2024. A multi-method econometric framework is applied, including Difference-in-Differences (DiD), fixed-effects models, instrumental variable two-stage least squares (IV-2SLS), propensity score matching (PSM-DiD), and system generalized method of moments (GMM), to ensure robust causal inference and address endogeneity concerns. The findings reveal that green finance significantly improves corporate environmental performance. However, economic policy uncertainty weakens this positive relationship, indicating a negative moderating effect. Further analysis identifies nonlinear threshold effects, suggesting that the influence of EPU varies across different levels of uncertainty. The moderating effect is more pronounced in emerging markets, where institutional instability amplifies the adverse impact of policy uncertainty on green investment effectiveness. This study contributes to the literature by integrating macro-level policy uncertainty into firm-level sustainability analysis and highlighting the conditional effectiveness of green finance. The results underscore the importance of stable policy environments and strong institutional frameworks in maximizing the environmental benefits of green finance. Policymakers should focus on reducing uncertainty and strengthening regulatory consistency to enhance sustainable investment outcomes, particularly in emerging economies.

• semanticscholar https://doi.org/10.3389/frevc.2026.1686728first seen 2026-05-15 20:52:05