Existing research is ambiguous about the relationship between the financial industry development scale and carbon emission reduction targets. Therefore, using data from 30 provinces and municipalities directly under the central government (excluding Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) from 2009–2018, this study divides the reduction targets into emission quantity and intensity to investigate this relationship. Using the improved STIRPAT equation, the pooled OLS and other estimation technique in robustness test, we found that the financial industry development scale is positively related to emission quantity and negatively related to emission intensity. The financial industry development scale inhibits carbon emission intensity through the mediating role of the technology market development degree, which also has a moderating effect on the scale. The study also discusses the regional differences in the scale's impact on carbon emission intensity, its compensation effect on the economic loss caused by carbon emissions, and the positive influence of policy implementation on carbon emission intensity. We provide suggestions to reduce carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality.

Purpose: A series of environmental pollution issues and economic improvement go hand in hand. Since financial listed companies contribute significantly to the national economic development, China has been paying increasing attention to the development of the financial industry. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship among the development level of the financial industry, over-investment of the listed companies and environmental pollution through a macro-level and micro-level mechanism.Design/methodology/approach: In this study, we adopt the 2011–2017 panel data of listed companies in the manufacturing industry to study the impacts of the financial industry on environmental pollution. Meanwhile, the paper uses a mediator model, and over-investment is introduced to the econometric model as a mediator to explore whether the development of the financial industry can affect the environmental pollution through over-investment.Findings: A U-shaped relationship between financial industry development and environmental pollution was observed through a macro-perspective; additionally, over-investment of the listed companies significantly increased environmental pollution, along with a significant mediator effect of over-investment. A significant positive correlation was observed between financial industry development and environmental pollution in the East region of China, while the correlation was negative in the Central and West regions. The mitigation effect of financial industry development on environmental pollution was more significant in the low-end manufacturing industry, compared with basic and high-end manufacturing industries.Originality/value: Strengthening the incentives and supervision toward company managers, reducing over-investment behaviors, encouraging suitable financial industry development to reduce financial risks, improving environmental conservation laws and regulations, and implementing stringent penalty mechanisms for environmental conservation are necessary.

China’s rapid electric vehicle (EV) market expansion—from 331,000 units in 2015 to over 9.5 million in 2023—is generating an unprecedented wave of retired lithium-ion batteries projected to exceed 94 TWh cumulatively by 2060, presenting critical challenges for sustainable resource management. While grid decarbonization can reduce use-phase emissions, the substantial embodied carbon in battery production (55–130 kg CO₂-eq/kWh) remains a critical challenge for achieving carbon neutrality. This study presents an integrated dynamic material flow analysis (MFA) and prospective life cycle assessment (LCA) framework—calibrated against the latest peer-reviewed literature—to quantify the carbon mitigation potential of battery recycling and second-life applications from 2020 to 2060. We evaluate four end-of-life management scenarios: baseline linear economy, enhanced recycling, second-life dominant, and synergistic optimization. Our results reveal that the synergistic scenario achieves the highest cumulative avoided emissions of 3844 Mt CO₂-eq, representing a 12.1-fold improvement over the baseline. Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis (n = 10,000) confirms robust scenario differentiation, with 100% probability that synergistic optimization outperforms enhanced recycling alone. Material security analysis shows that recycled supply can meet 100% of lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper demand by 2060 under optimal management. These findings provide quantitative evidence for chemistry-differentiated battery management policies aligned with China’s dual carbon goals and the transition toward a sustainable circular economy.

At this stage, it has become an international consensus that human activities lead to an increase in carbon dioxide emissions, which in turn affects socioeconomic development. Finance is the core of the contemporary economy, and the financialization of the economy is a process that accompanies the development of the market economy and the deepening of finance, a process that is inevitably accompanied by the generation of carbon emissions. Therefore, we have reason to believe that there is an important linkage between economic financialization and carbon emissions. Taking China as an example, it is of great significance for the transformation of the world’s low-carbon economy to explore in depth the linking role of carbon finance in the relationship between economic financialization and carbon emission efficiency, from the purpose of realizing the co-optimization of economic and ecological benefits.

This study employed bibliometric methods to analyze the global research patterns and evolutionary pathways in lithium battery carbon emissions from the Web of Science Core Collection database spanning 2008 to 2025. With the rise of the global electric vehicle market and the advancement of carbon neutrality policies, this field has evolved from a peripheral topic to a core energy‑environment topic. Using VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and RStudio, the research examines publication trends, national and regional collaboration, keyword co‑occurrence, thematic evolution, and core journals and institutions. The main findings indicate that annual publication volume exhibits a three-phase growth trajectory: Initial Germination Period (2008–2014), Steady Growth Period (2015–2019), and Explosive Growth Period (2020–2025). This progression appears closely linked to electric vehicle adoption and rising demand for battery recycling. The landscape is dominated by China and the U.S., with China leading in publication volume and the United States exerting greater influence on research impact. Europe and Asia-Pacific contribute through diversified international collaboration. Research themes coalesce around a Technology–Environment–Circulation ternary framework, with core keywords including “lithium-ion battery,” “life cycle assessment,” and “recycling.” The field has progressed from technological optimization to environmental assessment and circular economy considerations, and more recently shift toward digital governance. Journal analysis reveals pronounced interdisciplinary characteristics, with publications spanning energy, environmental, and multidisciplinary fields. These findings provide a statistical foundation for understanding the dynamic evolution of this field. Future research should emphasize multidisciplinary integration, policy coordination, and systematic evaluation of battery recycling technologies to inform international collaboration and sustainable development policy.