Journal of Statistics and Information

In the context of promoting the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, the green transformation of the manufacturing industry is not only an inevitable choice to achieve the carbon peak and carbon neutrality targets, but also a critical link to achieve the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry.However, the green development of China's manufacturing industry is still facing problems in terms of insufficient financial, material and technical resources, and the pressure on green transformation remains relatively high.Therefore, how to alleviate the pressure of enterprise green transformation has become an urgent problem that needs to be addressed urgently.Although the financial sector has pointed out the direction for alleviating the pressure on enterprises green and low-carbon transformation from a financial perspective, due to problems such as information asymmetry in the capital market, the implementation effect of some financial measures, such as green credit policies, is insufficient.However, the development and application of fintech have provided support for finance to more effectively empower enterprises in the green transformation.In the “Fintech Development Plan(2022—2025)” issued by the People's Bank of China, green and low-carbon have been listed as the basic principle of fintech development, and it is proposed to focus on improving the coverage and accuracy of the green industry of financial services, and help the green transformation and low-carbon development of the real economy.It can be seen that fintech plays an pivotal role in the process of green transformation of manufacturing enterprises.Therefore, using data from Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed manufacturing firms during 2011 to 2022,and from the perspective of transformations in the financial field by fintech, the study explores the impact of fintech on the green transformation of manufacturing enterprises by constructing econometric models.The results of the study show that fintech development can significantly promote the green transformation of manufacturing enterprises, and the conclusion still holds after a series of robustness tests such as endogeneity treatment and replacement of core variables.The results of the mediating effect test show that the development of fintech can promote the green transformation of manufacturing enterprises through two channels: enabling the development of supply chain finance and improving the level of green credit.The results of the moderating effect test show that both environmental regulation and corporate ESG performance play a positive moderating role in the process of fintech promoting green transformation of manufacturing enterprises.Heterogeneity analysis suggest that in the samples of state-owned enterprises, enterprises in high-tech industries, enterprises located in low-carbon pilot cities and enterprises located in northern regions, fintech significanthy promotes the green transformation of enterprises.Based on the above results, the following recommendations are put forward: While continuing to promote the development of fintech, it is necessary to pay attention to the negative impact of fintech and strengthen the supervision of financial innovation products enabled by fintech; Deepen the supply-side reform of finance, explore the functions of fintech in different financial scenarios, and increase the support for fintech in empowering supply chain finance and green credit; The government should adopt multiple measures to continuously strengthen environmental governance through the use of digital technologies; Resolve ESG rating differences, promote the establishment of a unified ESG disclosure framework in line with China's reality, and strengthen the supervision of the ESG rating industry.