Industrial Structure, Green Finance, and Energy Resilience Enhancement in China

Author:
Open Access
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Against the backdrop of global energy transition and multiple uncertainties, enhancing energy resilience has become a core priority for China’s pursuit of secure and sustainable development. Using Chinese provincial panel data from 2011 to 2019, this study applies a two-way fixed effects model, mediation effect tests, and interaction term analysis to empirically investigate the relationship between industrial structure, green finance, and energy resilience. The main findings are as follows. First, the increases in gross regional product (GRP) and the added value of the secondary and tertiary sectors significantly enhance energy resilience. Second, heterogeneity analysis indicates that in regions with a high level of green finance, both GRP and the secondary sector’s added value exhibit stronger positive effects on energy resilience, whereas in regions with lower levels of green finance, the tertiary sector’s added value contributes more significantly to energy resilience improvement. In areas with high coal dependency, the secondary sector’s added value shows a significantly positive effect on energy resilience. Increases in industrial and construction industry added value significantly enhance energy resilience, suggesting that the expansion of the secondary industry contributes positively to the stability and resilience of the energy system. Third, the mechanism analysis shows that green finance contributes to energy resilience partly through the optimization of the energy consumption structure. Specifically, by effectively curbing coal consumption and, to a lesser extent, fuel oil production, green finance reduces the structural dependence of the economy on high-carbon energy. By contrast, channels such as electricity generation yield weaker and less robust evidence. These findings suggest that energy resilience is fundamentally shaped by the interplay of industrial structure, financial intermediation, and energy structure adjustment. Therefore, policy should shift from single instruments to integrated governance, synergizing industrial policy, green finance, and energy optimization to bolster energy resilience.
Funding Information
  • Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province (2025NSFSC1956)
  • Research Center for the Construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing Twin-City Economic Circle and Chengdu Metropolitan Area (CYSC23B005)
  • 2026 Chengdu Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Project

This publication has 35 references indexed in Scilit: