Impact of digital economy development on carbon emission intensity in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region: a mechanism analysis based on industrial structure optimization and green innovation.

The iterative upgrading of digital technology and the implementation of “carbon-peaking and carbon neutrality” national strategy provide an opportunity for the synergistic integration of digital economy and green economy in China, thus, whether the development of digital economy can curb urban carbon emission intensity (CEI) remains to be answered. Based on the panel data of 110 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) region from 2011 to 2020, this paper investigated the impact of digital economy on CEI by using the dual fixed-effect model, the mediating mechanism model and the spatial Durbin model. The main results are as follows: (1) The development of digital economy in the YREB region can lower down CEI, promote the rationalization and upgrading of industrial structure, and improve cities’ green innovation capacity; (2) CEI was reduced through the intermediary effect of industrial structure optimization and upgrading and green technology innovation; (3) Digital economy shows a significant positive spatial correlation, and exerts a spatial spillover effect of reducing CEI in surrounding cities with obvious spatial heterogeneity; (4) Digital economy has a stronger inhibitory impact on CEI in the downstream cities and cities within the urban agglomerations; (5) In addition to digital infrastructure, the remaining components of digital economy, directly and indirectly, diminish CEI. At last, according to the research findings, suggestions for digital economy development in the YREB region are put forward.

The digital economy, as a sustainable and innovative mechanism for economic change, has emerged as a crucial national strategic driver for China’s attainment of high-quality development and low-carbon transition. Assessing the digital economy’s contribution to both high-quality development and carbon reduction, as well as evaluating the extent of its effects, can offer accurate decision-making assistance for prioritizing development sectors and optimizing resource distribution. This research utilizes the Entropy Weight TOPSIS approach and spatial autocorrelation analysis to investigate the spatiotemporal characteristics of the digital economy and high-quality development in Guangdong Province. A coupling coordination model evaluates the extent of coordination between the two, while a Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) is utilized to estimate the coefficients regarding the digital economy’s influence on both high-quality development and carbon emission reduction at the prefecture-level city size. The primary findings of the study are as follows: (1) Both the digital economy and high-quality development in Guangdong Province have progressively advanced, demonstrating notable spatial autocorrelation (Global Moran’s I ranging from 0.21 to 0.36, p < 0.01). Nonetheless, development r is uneven, with the Pearl River Delta region significantly outpacing other areas. (2) The coupling coordination level between the digital economy and high-quality development exhibits fluctuating stability and significant regional disparities. The Pearl River Delta, particularly Shenzhen and Guangzhou, consistently achieves a coordination quality level exceeding 0.90, whereas Meizhou and Maoming frequently fall below 0.20, indicating severe discoordination. (3) The digital economy has a substantial beneficial impact and spatial spillover effect on both high-quality development and carbon reduction. The SDM findings reveal that the digital economy exerts a substantial direct influence on high-quality development (coefficient = 0.4837, p < 0.01), while demonstrating a slight negative impact on carbon emissions (coefficient = −0.2012, p < 0.05), thereby affirming that its impact on high-quality development is predominantly more pronounced than its influence on low-carbon development. This report recommends focused ways to enhance the digital economy’s fundamental role in fostering high-quality development while also realizing its promise for low-carbon synergy.

The digital economy has become a new driving force for economic development. This paper takes 11 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt as research objects, constructs comprehensive evaluation indicators of environmental problems and digital economy, uses panel data of 11 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2011 to 2020, and applies various econometric models to empirically test the impact of digital economy development on environmental problems in multiple dimensions. It was found that the development of the digital economy in the Yangtze River Economic Belt significantly mitigates environmental problems, a conclusion that still holds after the robustness analysis. The mediation analysis indicates that the development of the digital economy mitigates environmental problems through industrial structural upgrading and green technology innovation. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the digital economy development in the downstream areas of the Yangtze River Economic Belt has the largest environmental improvement effect and the smallest in the midstream areas. Spatial spillover analysis shows that digital economy development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt has significantly reduced environmental problems in surrounding areas through spatial spillover effects. The findings of the study provide empirical evidence that the development of the digital economy can mitigate environmental problems, and also serve as a policy reference for developing the digital economy and bringing the environmental improvement role of the digital economy into play.

How does the concentration of spatial allocation of urban construction land across cities affect carbon emission intensity in China?

Although the digital economy has become a new driving force for development worldwide, it is still unclear how digital economy development affects green total factor energy efficiency (GTFEE). Using panel data from 281 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2018, this study empirically analyzes the effect of digital economy development on GTFEE by adopting a dynamic panel model, a mediation effect model, a dynamic threshold panel model, and a spatial Durbin model. The empirical results show that digital economy development has a significantly negative direct effect on GTFEE. The digital economy can impact GTFEE by the mechanisms of electrification, hollowing out of industrial scale, and hollowing out of industrial efficiency. Neither innovation nor environmental regulations significantly change this negative impact. The dynamic threshold panel model shows a nonlinear relationship between digital economy development and GTFEE, which indicates that the effect of digital economy development on GTFEE significantly inverts from negative to positive as the digital economy develops. In addition, GTFEE has a significantly positive spatial correlation, and the digital economy has a positive spatial spillover effect on GTFEE.

Using fixed, mediating, and moderating effect models, we explored the impact of the digital economy on carbon emission intensity and its mechanisms based on panel data of 100 cities in 6 Chinese urban agglomerations from 2011 to 2019. The results show that (1) the digital economy development in the urban agglomerations can significantly reduce carbon emission intensity. (2) The digital economy in the urban agglomerations can indirectly reduce carbon emission intensity through the channels of green technology innovation and the information communications technology (ICT) industry. Furthermore, a higher degree of marketization in the urban agglomerations leads to a more pronounced effect of the digital economy on reducing carbon emission intensity. (3) The impact of the digital economy on the carbon emission intensity in the urban agglomerations is regionally heterogeneous. When the carbon emission intensity is at different quantiles, the effects of the digital economy on reducing carbon emission intensity are different. (4) The digital economy development has different impacts on carbon emission intensity when different urban agglomerations are approved. The digital economy development in the urban agglomerations can better reduce carbon emission intensity than that in other cities. Currently, China is in a significant period of rapid digital economy development and energy conservation and emission reduction. We revealed some new features of the digital economy and carbon emission intensity in urban agglomerations, providing a reference for promoting the construction of urban agglomerations, developing the digital economy, and reducing carbon emission intensity.

Technological innovation and high-quality economic development are inevitable requirements of sustainable development, and the digital economy has gradually become a new engine to enhance technological innovation and the high-quality development of China’s economy. Deeply discussing the effect of digital economy on high-quality economic development and clarifying the mechanism behind it can effectively grant the boosting power of digital economy to China’s high-quality development, which is of great practical significance to China’s sustainable economic development. In this study, the mechanism, effect, and regional heterogeneity of the impact of the digital economy on the level of high-quality economic development in 30 Chinese provinces from 2011–2019 were measured and empirically tested using a mediating effects model and a spatial Durbin model, among others. The results showed that the overall level of digital economy and high-quality development is not high, and there were both high agglomeration and low agglomeration, with obvious spatial path dependence and spatial lock-in. Digital economy could promote the high-quality development level of the economy, and the spatial spillover effect was remarkable. In addition, the function of digital economy in promoting high-quality economic development in the eastern, central, and western regions was gradually weakened. Besides, the technological innovation was an important transmission path of digital economy to high-quality economic development. Based on these findings, it is proposed that decision-makers should strengthen digitalization efforts so that the digital economy can become a powerful tool to narrow the digital divide. Further, the dynamic and differentiated digital economy development strategy should be implemented to reduce regional development imbalances in an effective manner.

<p _msthash="770" _msttexthash="18511649104"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Under the background of China's “double carbon” goal, digital economy has become an important way to reduce carbon emissions in China. This paper utilizes the provincial panel data of China from 2012 to 2022, introduces the perspective of agricultural science and technology innovation, empirically examines the impact mechanism of regional digital economy development on agricultural carbon emission through regression analysis model, and portrays the dynamic effect and spillover effect of digital economy development on agricultural carbon emission from both time and space dimensions. The empirical results show that: digital economic development will have a significant inhibitory effect on the intensity of agricultural carbon emissions, and the inhibitory effect will be indirectly affected through the path of agricultural scientific and technological innovation; the impact of digital economic development on the intensity of agricultural carbon emissions there is a time lag effect, the current stage of the digital economic development will still have a strong inhibitory effect on the intensity of agricultural carbon emissions in the future; Digital economic development has a spatial spillover effect, i.e., the development of the regional digital economy will have an inhibitory effect on the intensity of agricultural carbon emissions in neighboring provinces. Based on this, it is proposed to strengthen the construction of digital infrastructure, promote the coordinated development of the digital economy in the region, and formulate policies to reduce carbon emissions in agriculture.</span></span></p>

IntroductionWith the rapid development of digital technology and its deep integration with environmental and ecological fields, the digital economy has become an effective way to guide the transition of cities to an eco-friendly model. However, empirical studies on the nonlinear spatial effects between digital economy and ecological welfare performance are still insufficient.MethodsBased on the panel data of 270 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2020, this paper empirically examines the impact of the digital economy on the ecological welfare performance of cities and its mechanism of action using spatial econometric modeling.ResultsThe promotion effect of digital economy development on the ecological welfare performance of cities is characterized by the “J” shape of increasing marginal effect, and the spatial spillover effect on the ecological welfare performance of neighboring cities is the inverted “U” shape of inhibiting first and then promoting later. The mechanism test shows that the development of digital economy can enhance the ecological welfare performance of cities through the marginal incremental promotion of green technological innovation in local and neighboring cities and has a positive spatial spillover effect. The development of digital economy can have a direct U shape effect on local ecological welfare performance by influencing factor allocation efficiency and energy utilization efficiency. It also has an inverted U-shaped spatial spillover effect. Environmental regulation has an inverted U-shaped moderating effect on the local eco-welfare performance affected by the digital economy. As the level of rural revitalization increases, it produces a U-shaped moderating effect of inhibiting. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that digital economy development has a more significant facilitating effect and a positive spatial spillover effect on the ecological welfare performance of cities in central China.DiscussionThis paper will provide a reference for the synergistic optimization of digital economy development and ecological welfare performance among regions. The findings of the study will promote the development of digital economy and accelerate the realization of the goal of “Beautiful China”.

In the context of environmental sustainability and accelerated digital technology development, China attaches great importance to the prominent role of digital economy in addressing environmental degradation. Utilizing Chinese provincial panel data from 2011 to 2019, this study investigates whether the digital economy can improve China's environmental sustainability proxy by reducing carbon emission intensity. Based on the fixed effects model, the findings reveal that the digital economy has a significant negative effect on carbon emission intensity and the conclusion remains robust after conducting several robustness checks. However, this impact shows regional heterogeneity, which is more effective in resource-based eastern regions and the Belt and Road provinces. Moreover, mediating effect analyses indicate that the transmission mechanisms are energy consumption structure, total factor energy productivity, and green technology innovation. Furthermore, the results based on the spatial Durbin model (SDM) demonstrate that digital economy development has a significant spatial spillover effect. Finally, on the basis of results analysis and discussion, policy recommendations are provided for achieving environmental sustainability.

As an important driving force and new kinetic energy, digital economy is promoting the development of economy in the direction of high quality, and brings new opportunities and challenges to the development of real economy and the upgrading and optimization of industrial structure. Therefore, this paper measures the digital economy from the two aspects of “digital industrialization” and “industrial digitization”, and selects the data of 30 provinces and cities from 2012 to 2019 to empirically study its impact on the upgrading and optimization of China’s industrial structure. Through the research, it is found that digital economy can indeed improve the level of upgrading and optimization of industrial structure. At the same time, further analysis shows that the degree and mechanism of improving the level of eastern, central and western regions will be different according to different regions. Finally, according to the research results, this paper puts forward some countermeasures and suggestions to promote the development of digital economy and the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure in China.

Can the digital economy boost rural residents’ income? Evidence from China based on the spatial Durbin model

In the realistic context of the development of China's digital economy and carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, to efficiently achieve high-quality economic and green and low-carbon transformation, this paper investigates the impact of digital economy development on the carbon emission efficiency of 30 Chinese provinces and cities from 2011-2019. In this paper, firstly, the digital economy development index and carbon emission efficiency are calculated by the entropy method and the Super-SBM-Undesirable Model. Secondly, the Spatial Lag Model (SAR) and the Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) are respectively constructed under the adjacency matrix and the geographic distance matrix to empirically test the spatial impact of the digital economy on carbon emission efficiency. The results show that: the digital economy development and carbon emission efficiency of Chinese provinces and cities both show the spatial distribution characteristics of stronger in the East and weaker in the Middle and West; the digital economy development in Chinese provinces and cities has a significantly positive direct and spatial spillover effect on carbon emission efficiency; there are differences in the direct and spatial spillover effects of various dimensions of the digital economy development on the carbon emission efficiency in Chinese provinces and cities; the direct effect of the digital economy development on the carbon emission efficiency in Chinese provinces and cities has significant regional heterogeneity among eastern, central, and western regions. This paper provides new empirical evidence for developing countries such as China to proactively develop a digital economy to promote energy conservation and emission reduction to realize green and low-carbon transformation.

As a new format, the digital economy will inevitably affect the environment while bringing economic benefits. To explore the mechanism, regional differences of the digital economy on carbon emissions, and provides a theoretical basis for the realization of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals of the digital economy. This paper selects China’s provincial panel data from 2011 to 2019, constructs an indicator system to scientifically measure China’s digital economy development level and carbon emission level, and uses the spatial Durbin model to study and analyze the impact of digital economic development on carbon emissions. The results show that: (1) there is a positive spatial correlation between China’s carbon emissions. The development of the digital economy has an inhibitory effect on carbon emissions in both local and adjacent areas, and the effect of locality is greater than that of adjacent areas. (2) there are obvious regional differences in the relationship between digital economy development and carbon emissions in China. The development of digital economy in eastern and central China has a significant inhibitory effect on carbon emissions. However, the inhibitory effect in the central region is slightly stronger than that in the eastern region, and the development of the digital economy in the western region has not yet shown a significant effect on carbon emissions. (3) According to the results of spatial Durbin model, digital economy development in eastern China has a significant negative spillover effect on carbon emissions, while that in central China has a significant positive spillover effect. The research helps to plan the development strategy of the digital economy according to local conditions, implement low-carbon policies according to the right medicine, and effectively alleviate the problem of unbalanced development in different regions.

IntroductionWith the increasing urgency of sustainable development, understanding the role of the digital economy in promoting green and low-carbon transformation has become a key research focus. This study investigates the impact of the digital economy on urban green and low-carbon development in China, examining its underlying mechanism and spatial spillover effect.MethodsThis study employs panel data from 278 prefecture-level and above cities in China from 2012 to 2023. Urban green and low-carbon development is measured by green total factor productivity, calculated using the super-efficiency SBM model and the Global Malmquist-Luenberger index. Digital economy is calculated through principal component analysis. The empirical analysis employs OLS and two-way fixed effects model, while threshold model and spatial Durbin model are applied to examine the threshold effect of environmental regulation and the spatial spillover effect of digital economy.ResultsThe digital economy promotes urban green and low-carbon development, with the impact mechanism being the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure, enhancement of green innovation efficiency, and improvement of resource allocation efficiency. The stricter the environmental regulation, the more significant the promoting effect of the digital economy. The impact of the digital economy is more significant in capital cities, central regions, non-resource-based cities, and the third batch of low-carbon pilot cities. The digital economy generates a negative spillover effect on the green and low-carbon development of surrounding cities.DiscussionThese results highlight the dual effects of the digital economy, both in driving local green and low-carbon development and in potentially intensifying regional disparities. Policy implications include the need to strengthen digital infrastructure, reinforce environmental regulations, and promote regional coordination to mitigate spillover risks and achieve balanced green and low-carbon development.