The level of decoupling between digital inclusive finance and carbon emissions and its spatial correlation network characteristics

The rapid growth of civilization has strained the world’s natural system, and carbon reduction is an increasing trend. Thus, examining the decoupling level of digital financial inclusion and carbon emissions is crucial to studying and solving the world’s carbon emission problem. Based on actual data from kernel density estimation, the decoupling model, the gravity model, and social network analysis, this research concludes: (1) Over the observation period, China’s digital inclusive finance development level climbed while carbon emission levels fell, and regional differences in the emergence of digital inclusive finance were not significant. (2) Digital inclusive finance and carbon emissions are primarily in two states: strong decoupling and weak decoupling. Although some regions have negative expansion decoupling, the overall trend is strong and weak decoupling. (3) The network connecting digital inclusive finance and carbon decoupling is diverse and complicated, but as cross-area linkages decline, its structure becomes less stable. (4) The northwestern areas of China, namely Gansu, Ningxia, and Xinjiang, together with less economically developed and infrastructurally advanced provinces like Guangxi, are situated on the periphery of the spatial correlation network of regions. (5) Carbon decoupling and the prevalence of digitally inclusive finance have a geographic pattern. The study’s findings are logical, and its recommendations are doable.