The impact of green finance development on energy poverty: Does climate risk matter?

Energy poverty (EP) presents a significant challenge to the global energy system while also hindering sustainable development in various countries. Based on an evaluation indicator system of EP, this paper explores whether green finance (GF) significantly alleviates EP in 30 provinces of China using the method of moment estimation quantile regression (MMQR), and investigates how climate risks affect the relationship between GF and EP. The findings are as follows: (1) GF has a significant alleviating effect on EP. It can provide funding and support for sustainable energy and energy efficiency projects, thereby improving people's energy supply and utilization. GF can alleviate EP at all quantiles, but the degree of alleviation varies. (2) Climate risks have a significant moderating effect on the negative relationship between GF and EP. However, the moderating effect is only significant at the 25th and 50th quantiles. This means that the alleviating effect of GF on EP is severely affected by climate risks, which is more prevalent in provinces with lower and medium EP. (3) This moderating effect indicates the existence of spatial heterogeneity, mainly in the western regions of China. Our findings offer guidance for attaining sustainable energy development and targeted EP reduction.