Digital infrastructure empowerment and urban carbon emissions: Evidence from China

Abstract

China is accelerating its entry into the digital age, and the contribution of digital infrastructure to the reduction of carbon emissions is becoming increasingly prominent. The influence mechanism of digital infrastructure on urban carbon emissions is empirically tested in this study from the standpoint of digital empowerment using panel data from 250 cities between 2008 and 2020. According to the study, digital infrastructure greatly lowers urban carbon emissions, with each additional mobile base station reducing carbon emissions by 36 tons. This conclusion remains robust even after controlling for endogeneity issues. The mechanism examination indicates that the decarbonization effect of digital infrastructure is mainly achieved by empowering enterprises, individuals, and governments with digital capabilities. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the effects of digital infrastructure on carbon emissions vary after considering variations in the city's administrative hierarchy, industrial structure, and resource types in China. According to the study's findings, developing countries should expand digital infrastructure construction and fully harness its potential for energy saving and emissions reduction to meet their emission reduction targets. At the same time, differentiated emission reduction policies should be formulated to adapt to the heterogeneous characteristics among cities and ensure that emission reduction measures are effectively implemented in each city.