Digital inclusive finance, higher education expansion and regional carbon emissions: Evidence from China

In the context of global warming, it has become an urgent theoretical and practical issue to clarify the impact of digital inclusive finance on carbon emissions and to explore its impact mechanism. To this end, this paper analyses the impact of digital inclusive finance on carbon emissions using a two-way fixed-effects model and a mediating-effects model based on panel data from 266 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2019. We conclude that: firstly, digital inclusive finance not only significantly reduces carbon emissions per capita but also reduces carbon intensity; secondly, we reveal the negative mediating effect of higher education expansion in reducing carbon emissions from the perspective of mechanism analysis; finally, this study verifies that there is significant heterogeneity in the emission reduction effect of digital inclusive finance across different regions in China. Overall, the findings of this paper enrich the research on the relationship between digital inclusive finance, higher education and carbon emissions, and can identify the environmental benefits and action paths of digital finance. It provides important practical enlightenment for optimizing the construction of China's higher education and digital inclusive financial system, in order to promote the achievement of the strategic goal of "double carbon".