Research on the Impact of Digital Trade on Urban Carbon Emissions in China under the "Dual Carbon" Target

Abstract

After the "dual carbon" goal was put forward, low-carbon development has gradually become the focus of attention from all walks of life, and digital technology plays an important role in the process of helping carbon emission reduction. Digital trade, as an active field in international economy and trade, is of great significance to the economic growth of all countries and to deal with the problem of carbon emission reduction. This paper analyzes the transmission path of digital trade on urban carbon emission reduction in China from the theory of scale effect, structure effect and technological progress effect, and based on the panel data of 280 cities in China from 2011 to 2019, uses two-way fixed effect model to conduct regression analysis on the carbon emission reduction effect of digital trade. The study finds that China's digital trade development reduces urban carbon emission intensity, and the conclusion is still valid after the robustness test. Heterogeneity analyses show that the carbon emission reduction effect of digital trade varies in different regions in the East, West and Centre, as well as in regions with different degrees of carbon emissions. In terms of the transmission path, digital trade reduces regional carbon emission intensity by promoting scale effects, technological progress and industrial structure upgrading. Therefore, on the road of actively realizing the goal of "dual carbon", China should vigorously promote the development of international trade mode mainly represented by digital trade. At the same time, we fully recognize the heterogeneity of the impact of digital trade on carbon emissions, and adopt differentiated policies according to the different utility levels of digital trade on carbon emissions in different regions. This will narrow the "digital divide" between cities and help achieve China's "dual carbon" goal.