Is green finance capable of promoting renewable energy technology? Empirical investigation for 64 economies worldwide

Research background: As an outcome of a global consensus on combating climate change, green finance is expected to play an important role in promoting green growth and innovation progress. Some studies note that green credit policy yields a negative influence on green innovation, while how green finance affects renewable energy innovation has received scant attention in academia. This study focuses on the impact of green finance on renewable energy innovation. Purpose of the article: This research investigates the influence of green finance on an economy's renewable energy innovation by using green bond data from the Climate Bonds Initiative. This research further tests whether it varies for different kinds of energy types and economic development levels. Given that policies are key to renewable energy technology development, this research checks whether government stability changes the relationship between green finance and renewable energy innovation. Methods: Using the panel fixed effects model and big-scale data from 64 economies worldwide during the period 2014-2019, we investigate green finance's impact on renewable energy innovation. In the robustness test, the dynamic panel model and the panel Tobit model are employed. Findings & value added: This research finds that green finance has a positive effect on renewable energy innovation. This effect is prominent in non-OECD economies as well as middle-income and low-income economies. Government stability enhances the influence of green finance on renewable energy innovation. Moreover, the results indicate that green finance mainly promotes innovation progress for wind energy and produces little effect for other renewable energies. The subsample analysis also sheds light on the heterogeneity of the role of green finance in promoting renewable energy innovation.