Does green finance restrain corporate financialization?

Green financial policy is one of the important policy tools for China to implement the national carbon peak goal and carbon neutral vision through financial means. This policy has an important impact on the business strategy of corporates. Based on the data of listed corporates from 2013 to 2020, this study examines the impact mechanism of China’s green financial reform and innovation pilot zones (GFRIPZ) on corporate financialization (CF) using the difference-in-difference method. The results show the following: (1) The implementation of GFRIPZ significantly restrains the CF. (2) GFRIPZ reversed the short-sighted behavior of firms and guided them to accelerate the green transformation and upgrading for long-term development. Firms’ environmental capital expenditure and research and development expenditure increased significantly. (3) The restraining effect of GFRIPZ on CF is stronger in state-owned firms, firms with low-degree managerial myopia, and high-polluting firms. The research clearly identifies the causal relationship and mechanism between GFRIPZ and CF and reveals the formation mechanism and solution path of CF from the green finance perspective. In addition, this study has implications for guiding the green transformation of entity firms and stopping firms from deviating from their intended purpose.