Unlocking new paths to mineral resources’ green utilization: The new role and challenges of Fintech

The global spread of the resource curse makes improving mineral resources’ green utilization efficiency (MRGUE) a central challenge for sustainable development. FinTech, as a technology-driven financial innovation, offers new avenues for addressing this challenge. Using panel data from Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2006 to 2023, this study systematically examines the relationship between FinTech and MRGUE. The main findings are as follows. First, FinTech increases MRGUE. Government intervention weakens this positive effect, whereas environmental enforcement and marketization reinforce it. Second, consistent with the resource-based view and dynamic capability theory, innovation capability, absorptive capability, and adaptive capability serve as key channels through which FinTech operates. Third, the effect of FinTech grows with higher levels of green utilization efficiency and exhibits positive spatial spillovers, with the strongest impact in the short term. Finally, FinTech-driven MRGUE significantly improves both economic and environmental performance, supporting the mineral resources sector in achieving high-quality and low-carbon development. This study offers a “China solution” for other countries facing the resource curse, demonstrating how FinTech and similar innovations can advance the sustainable management of mineral resources.