The Impact of Green Bond Financing on Regional Ecological and Environmental Resilience: Evidence from 31 Chinese Provinces

Abstract

Against the background of global climate change and ecosystem degradation, enhancing regional ecological and environmental resilience has become a core goal of ecological civilization construction in China. As a key instrument of green finance, whether green bonds can effectively empower regional ecological and environmental resilience remains to be tested. To address this issue, this paper uses panel data from 31 Chinese provinces from 2013 to 2023, constructs a comprehensive evaluation index system for regional ecological and environmental resilience covering resistance, adaptation, and recovery, and employs a two-way fixed effects model to examine the impact, mechanisms, and heterogeneity of green bond financing on regional ecological and environmental resilience. The results show that green bond financing significantly improves regional ecological and environmental resilience, and this conclusion remains valid after a series of robustness tests. Mechanism analysis shows that green bond financing does not simply provide funds. Instead, it indirectly strengthens regional ecological and environmental resilience by promoting industrial structure upgrading and green technological innovation. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the ecological benefits of green bonds are more prominent in economically underdeveloped regions and regions with smaller populations. Their effect is mainly reflected in the recovery dimension of ecosystems, while the direct effects on resistance and adaptation are not yet significant. This study demonstrates the practical effect of green bonds on ecological governance and provides a basis for more targeted green finance policies from the perspectives of differentiated policy design, investment optimization, and policy coordination.