This study examined how green finance was associated with sustainable land management in selected land-degraded provinces in China under climate stress. Using a balanced provincial panel of nine provinces from 2011 to 2023, the study constructed composite indices for sustainable land management, green finance and climate stress and estimated fixed-effects, spatial and threshold models. The results showed that green finance was positively and significantly associated with sustainable land management. Spatial tests further indicated positive and persistent clustering in land-management performance, while spatial regressions revealed that neighbouring green finance was positively related to local land-management outcomes, indicating regional spillover effects across neighbouring provinces. Threshold estimates showed that the positive association between green finance and sustainable land management weakened once climate stress exceeded a critical level, although the relationship remained significant under both lower- and higher-stress regimes. These findings suggest that green finance is an important enabling mechanism for land restoration and adaptive land governance, but its effectiveness depends on regional coordination and climate-sensitive targeting in selected degraded ecosystems within China's vulnerable dryland areas.