%A LYU Wanqing, XIAO Zhaofu
%T The Synergistic Effect of Digital Green Finance Platforms on Pollution Abatement and Carbon Reduction: A Causal Inference Based on Double Machine Learning
%0 Journal Article
%D 2026
%J Journal of Guizhou University of Finance and Economics
%R 
%P 121-132
%V 43
%N 02
%U {https://gcxb.gufe.edu.cn/CN/abstract/article_9611.shtml}
%8 2026-03-25
%X Digital finance serves as a pivotal engine for achieving the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. However, in practice, challenges such as "greenwashing" risks and resource misallocation arising from information asymmetry among the government, banks, and enterprises often constrain the synergistic efficiency of pollution abatement and carbon reduction. Distinct from existing literature that predominantly focuses on macro-policy evaluations or single-indicator assessments, this paper targets the "digital green finance platform"—a micro-level digital infrastructure designed to break information barriers—and explores its governance efficacy from a systems theory perspective. Based on panel data from 287 Chinese cities spanning 2010 to 2023, this study utilizes a MCCD to measure the synergistic level of pollution abatement and carbon reduction. Treating the establishment of 3,731 digital green finance platforms as a quasi-natural experiment, the DML model is employed to robustly identify their causal effects. The findings indicate that digital green finance platforms significantly drive the synergistic effect of pollution abatement and carbon reduction, exhibiting dynamic characteristics that are both immediate and progressively strengthening. Mechanism analysis reveals that at the macro level, platforms enhance synergy by promoting the "quantity expansion and quality improvement" of green credit; at the micro level, they achieve this by mitigating commercial banks’ risk-taking. Heterogeneity analysis further suggests that platforms with higher independence, richer functionality, and more diversified interaction channels yield stronger synergistic effects. These conclusions provide theoretical references and empirical evidence for deepening the construction of Digital China and better coordinating development and security.