Despite extensive research on the impact of green policies on firm growth and performance, there has been little effort dedicated to understanding the effect of green credit policies on firms.In this article, we fill this gap by investigating the effect of green credit policy on financial performance. Additionally, we examine the moderating role of technological innovation in this relationship. Using data from listed companies in the energy sector, our findings reveal that green credit policies negatively affect financial performance. However, this negative impact is ameliorated at a high level of technological innovation (e.g., high‐technology and green patents). Specifically, the mechanism analysis reveals enterprises with high‐tech invention patents convey positive prospects to investors, whereas green patents signal firms' green innovation capabilities, thereby attracting external financing. Moreover, our findings revealed that environmental performance attenuates the negative effect of green credit policy on financial performance.Our heterogeneity analysis reveals that invention patents significantly benefit the financial performance of state‐owned and large enterprises in the traditional energy sector, whereas green patents have a positive effect in the new energy sector, predominantly for non‐state‐owned and smaller companies. These findings offer both theoretical and policy implications for sustainability research and practice.

中文翻译：

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绿色信贷政策、技术创新与企业财务绩效——来自能源行业的证据


尽管对绿色政策对公司增长和绩效的影响进行了广泛的研究，但很少有人致力于了解绿色信贷政策对公司的影响。在本文中，我们通过研究绿色信贷政策对财务绩效的影响来填补这一空白。此外，我们研究了技术创新在这种关系中的调节作用。使用能源行业上市公司的数据，我们的研究结果表明，绿色信贷政策对财务绩效产生负面影响。然而，这种负面影响在高水平的技术创新（例如，高科技和绿色专利）中得到了缓解。具体而言，机制分析显示，拥有高新技术发明专利的企业向投资者传达了积极的前景，而绿色专利则表明了企业的绿色创新能力，从而吸引了外部融资。此外，我们的研究结果显示，环境绩效减弱了绿色信贷政策对财务绩效的负面影响。我们的异质性分析表明，发明专利对传统能源领域的国有和大型企业的财务业绩有显著的好处，而绿色专利在新能源领域有积极影响，主要是针对非国有和小型企业。这些发现为可持续性研究和实践提供了理论和政策意义。