In the context of increasing uncertainty in the international economic environment and changes in the labor market, it is imperative to pay proper attention to the environmental quality and sustainability. This paper theoretically analyzes the impact of financial development and financial inclusion on the environmental sustainability. Based on the survey data of 2093 households in Xunyi and Yangling, Shaanxi Province, China, the 2SLS model, and the instrumental variable quantile regression model are constructed to test the association of variables. The results show that the development of financial inclusion and financial development have an inverted “U” shaped nonlinear effect on the environmental quality and efficiency; Only after the development of financial inclusion reaches a certain degree can the environmental quality and sustainability be effectively improved. The results of the quantile regression of instrumental variables show that financial inclusion significantly improves the environmental quality with medium and high degrees but does not have a significant effect on the environmental quality and sustainability with low degrees. After considering the endogeneity and robustness test, the above conclusion still holds. Further research shows that inclusive financial development improves environmental quality and results in sustainable development. Improving the convenience and depth of use of financial services is the key to effectively reducing rural household economic vulnerability and improve the environmental quality. The heterogeneity analysis shows that financial inclusion development has a stronger effect on improving the environmental quality. This study provides empirical evidence and policy implications to better promote financial inclusion to improve the economic vulnerability of rural households, improve environmental quality and achieve the sustainable development. These findings provide policy support to better promote financial inclusion to improve the economic vulnerability of rural households, improve environmental quality and achieve the sustainable development, which can ameliorate environmental degradation, and create a safe, healthy and sustainable environment for achieving sustainable development goals.

Based on the Chinese county-level panel data from 2014–2018, in the study reported in this paper, we empirically tested the “complementarity and substitution” effects of internet finance and rural finance on rural economic development using the feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) estimation method. The research data were obtained from the China County Statistical Yearbook. Similarly, the data of agricultural credit societies were obtained from the unique database of the agricultural credit societies of Shaanxi Rural Finance Research Center, while the internet finance development index was obtained from the Digital Finance Research Center of Peking University. In this research, we found that rural finance and internet finance contribute to rural economic growth. In the context of rural economic growth, internet finance and rural finance development show a substitution effect. The scale and efficiency of rural finance contribute to rural economic growth, while the structure of rural finance has the opposite effect. The development of internet finance reduces the marginal contribution of the rural financial scale and efficiency to rural economic growth. It weakens the negative effect of the rustic financial structure on rural economic growth. Furthermore, the development of internet finance contributes to the rural economic growth of counties of high economic levels but hinders the development of counties of low and medium economic levels. In counties with a high economic status, the development of internet finance and rural finance have a complementary effect on rural economic growth, while in counties of low and medium economic levels, we can observe a substitution effect. These assessments provide guidance, a source for policy recommendations and a reference for researchers and policy makers seeking to optimize the structure and break the monopoly pattern of agricultural credit cooperation in the rural financial market and to strengthen innovation and significantly improve the operational level of rural financial institutions. Moreover, the development of internet financial business and technology is necessary to overcome the demerits of traditional financial institutions.