Digital Finance and Clean Energy Transition of Middle- and Older-Aged Households in Rural China

This paper employs data from the Peking University Digital Financial Inclusion Index of China and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study to investigate how digital finance influences clean cooking energy adoption among middle- and older-aged rural households. To address potential endogeneity concerns, we employ two instrumental variables, including spherical distance to Hangzhou and the implementation of the “Broadband China” pilot. The results indicate that digital finance significantly promotes the adoption of clean cooking energy. Heterogeneity analyses indicate that the positive effect is more pronounced among households coresiding with adult children, households headed by individuals younger than 70, and households located in eastern China. Mechanism analyses further suggest that digital finance encourages clean cooking energy adoption by improving payment convenience and increasing financial transfers from adult children. These findings underscore the role of digital finance in promoting household-level energy transition and provide new evidence on the socioeconomic consequences of digital finance development.