Digital Economy and 3E Efficiency Performance: Evidence from EU Countries

Abstract

Nowadays, sustainability has become an important and widely accepted concept. Energy conservation and emission reduction are closely related to sustainable economic development. Therefore, a 3E efficiency approach, based on the “Energy–Environmental–Economic” (3E) system, can assess the coordination relationships among these three factors from the perspective of energy conservation and emission reduction. The digital economy is a new driving force for economic growth, but few studies have dealt with the question on whether it affects 3E efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the digital economy and 3E efficiency in EU countries. The empirical results indicate that: (1) overall 3E efficiency of EU countries showed an upward trend from 2011 to 2019; (2) in terms of the relationship between the digital economy and 3E efficiency, the digital economy has direct and indirect (through economic growth) impacts on 3E efficiency; when GDP per capita exceeds EUR 15,580, the influence coefficient of the digital economy on 3E efficiency changes from negative to positive. This suggests that EU countries with different levels of economic development should adopt different strategies to ensure the simultaneous development of their digital economy and 3E efficiency.