Pursuing progress through land has served a prominent role in economic development. China aggressively exploits its land resources. The land ecosystem cycle is disrupted, posing a threat to sustainable land development and adversely affecting socioeconomic progress. This study employed the Heihe-Tengchong line as the demarcation for regional environmental carrying capacity. Utilizing panel data from 276 prefecture-level cities in China spanning 2005 to 2020, it empirically examined the correlation between land-based fiscal revenue and ecosystem service value from a policy-driven perspective. Ecosystem service value data were calculated using remote sensing datasets processed with ArcGIS 10.2 software. The results based on data analysis revealed that land finance had a remarkable inhibitory and negative effect on ecological value. Additionally, land finance had a prominent time-lag influence on ecological value, considering the policy standpoint. Furthermore, promotion pressure significantly affected land finance and ecological value. From the perspective of data science, it had the potential to distort officials’ economic development behavior and adversely affect the ecosystem. Given the findings based on these data values, the state should actively explore the transfer of ecologically valuable state-owned land, improve the political promotion assessment system, and use environmental consideration as leading tools for performance assessment.
