Financialization and an emerging “green investor state”: Examining China's use of state‐backed funds for green transition

Abstract

China is simultaneously enacting a state‐led financialization of governance and a prioritization of environmental objectives. Resultingly, dedicated state‐backed green funds have grown in scale beyond US$70 billion. Drawing on interviews, policies, and financial databases, we examine these funds through policy document analysis, descriptive statistics, and three case studies. Tying together the literature on “financialization” and the “green state” we show how China's “market‐driven, government‐guided” type of state‐led financialization enhances the country's green state investment capacity. This is distinct from other countries' experience of diminishing capacities resulting from financialization of the state. We introduce the concept of a “green investor state” to capture China's approach and argue that the approach is difficult to replicate beyond state‐capitalist economies. However, the gradual return of industrial policy elsewhere makes the use of similar funds increasingly feasible globally, warranting further research on the use of green funds under none‐state‐led types of financialization.