Mechanisms of Digital Inclusive Finance in Empowering the New Energy Industry

Under the framework of the “dual carbon” goals, examining how digital inclusive finance empowers the development of the new energy industry is of great significance for promoting green economic transformation. Using provincial panel data from 2011 to 2022 and a two-way fixed effects model, this study investigates the mechanisms through which digital inclusive finance enables new energy industry development. The study finds three main results. First, digital inclusive finance significantly promotes the development of the new energy industry, and this conclusion holds after multiple robustness and endogeneity tests. Second, mechanism analysis shows that digital inclusive finance operates through three channels: alleviating corporate financing constraints, enhancing regional innovation capacity, and increasing environmental awareness. Third, heterogeneity tests indicate that the enabling effects of digital inclusive finance are particularly pronounced in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, in areas with lower levels of marketization, and in regions with weaker financial regulation. Based on these findings, the study proposes building a differentiated inclusive financial service system; promoting deep integration between the “Eastern Data and Western Computing” initiative and the new energy industry to establish a collaborative “data-computing power-energy-environment” model; and optimizing financial product structures and risk prevention mechanisms according to local conditions to provide strong support for digital inclusive finance in empowering new energy industry development.