The impact of digital economy on energy transition across the globe: The mediating role of government governance

The impact of digital economy on renewable energy development in China

Is the digital economy conducive to the development of renewable energy in Asia?

The transition to renewable energy generation (REG) is a critical priority for emerging economies aiming to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. This study investigates the key drivers of REG across the MINT countries (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey) using a multidimensional framework that integrates socio-economic factors, financial mechanisms, and technological enablers. Employing advanced panel estimation techniques, including Cross-Sectionally Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL), Dynamic Common Correlated Effects (DCCE), and Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimators, the analysis covers the period from 1995 to 2022. The results revealed that while economic growth significantly promotes REG, trade openness and unemployment are negatively associated with clean energy advancement. In the financial dimension, both green finance and financial development support REG, whereas foreign direct investment exerts an inverse effect. Technological innovation, information and communication technology (ICT), and the digital economy are identified as key accelerators of REG progress. This study advances energy transition theory by integrating multidimensional drivers, socio-economic, financial, and technological factors into a unified empirical framework for emerging economies. These findings underscore the need for an integrated policy framework that simultaneously strengthens macroeconomic structures, enhances green financing systems, and promotes technological innovation to facilitate an inclusive and sustainable clean energy transition in emerging markets. • GDP boosts REG; unemployment and trade openness hinder clean energy progress. • Green finance improves REG, but FDI shows adverse effects on energy adoption. • Innovation, ICT, and digital economy are crucial for expanding REG. • A multidimensional model reveals key drivers of renewable energy growth.

IntroductionWith the booming development of the digital economy, the integrated development of digital technology and agriculture continues to expand and deepen. Clarifying the impact and mechanisms of digital economy on agricultural development resilience is of great significance for sustainable agricultural development.MethodsBased on the provincial panel data of 13 major grain-producing regions in China from 2010 to 2020, the evaluation system of digital economy and agricultural development resilience were constructed, and the entropy-TOPSIS method was used to measure them. Using the panel Tobit model, the mediation effect model and the threshold regression model, the impact effects and the mechanism of digital economy on agricultural development resilience were explored.ResultsThe results show that digital economy has a positive effect on agricultural development resilience, and this conclusion remains valid after a series of robustness tests. Mechanism analysis reveals that mitigating the misallocation of agricultural resources is a crucial pathway through which the digital economy enhances agricultural development resilience. Furthermore, the threshold effect analysis suggests that the digital economy’s role in promoting agricultural development resilience exhibits a non-linear characteristic, with increasing marginal effects. Additionally, the heterogeneity analysis indicates that the impact of the digital economy on agricultural development resilience varies regionally, with a notably stronger positive effect on the eastern region compared to the central and northern regions.DiscussionThis study provides empirical evidence that the digital economy enhances the resilience of agricultural development and provides relevant policy recommendations for the government, which is important for promoting sustainable agricultural development.

Global use of fossil fuels increases the growth of carbon dioxide (CO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> ) emissions and results in significant climate change. In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the mix of renewable energy continues to grow. In this case, the quality of electric service becomes more susceptible to climate change. This research studies California’s case on the relationship between climate change and renewable energy generation, providing a methodology to estimate optimal renewable energy capacity in transitioning from fuel-based energy to renewable energy. Proper planning of renewable energy capacity will help avoid electric supply shortages caused by climate change and reduce the reserved residual energy’s maintenance cost. This will lead to finding the optimal operating capacity of renewable energy and expedite the capacity transition to renewable energy from fuel-based energy. This research is based on California’s climate and energy generation data, but the same methodology can be applied and tested to any region in planning renewable energy capacity and transition.

Act locally, transition globally: Grassroots resilience, local politics, and five municipalities in the United States with 100% renewable electricity

Financial technology and renewable energy transition in Africa

How digitalization, renewable energy, and natural resources shape environmental excellence? Evidence from China using a Quantile-on-Quantile framework

The digital economy has been considered a powerful weapon in addressing global warming. However, the “win-win” effect of the digital economy on economic development and carbon reduction is still unclear. With China’s provincial panel data from 2012 to 2019, this paper intends to explore the direct and spatial effects of the digital economy on total factor carbon productivity (TFCP), further revealing the influencing mechanism from the perspective of energy intensity. The results show that the digital economy contributes to boosting TFCP and this conclusion is robust after adopting some robustness tests and solving the endogeneity problem. Moreover, the impact of the digital economy on TFCP has significant positive spillovers. Finally, the digital economy can significantly boost TFCP through reducing the energy intensity. Considering the regional heterogeneity, the impact of the digital economy on TFCP is significantly positive in Mid-Eastern China, however, the impact is not significant in other areas. The above findings provide strong policy guidance for the region to boost the digital economy and TFCP comprehensively, thus stimulating the green transition of the economy.

This paper evaluates the impact and role of digital economy on industrial green total factor productivity based on the perspective of China’s industrial green transformation and provides a realistic basis and decision-making reference for industrial green transformation. This paper constructs the industrial green total factor productivity and digital economy development index of 30 provinces from 2013 to 2019, and empirically tests the spatial-temporal evolution relationship between them and the impact of digital economy on industrial green development by using time-fixed effect and spatial Durbin model. The results show that the digital economy and industrial green total factor productivity digital economy are unevenly developed, basically showing a distribution trend of high in the east and low in the west, and the two have a significant positive spatial correlation in the years observed. The results of local spatial autocorrelation analysis show that there is a high clustering of digital economy and total factor productivity in the eastern coastal region and low clustering in the western region. The regional heterogeneity analysis shows that the development of digital economy is beneficial to optimize the distortion of capital and labor allocation and thus improve industrial green total factor productivity, but the indirect effect of digital economy on industrial green total factor productivity is not significant and the direct effect plays a dominant role.

Impact and transmission mechanism of digital economy on agricultural energy carbon emission reduction

Studies have found that the digital economy plays a positive role in promoting high-quality economic development. Meanwhile, the digital industrialization and industrial digitalization have given rise to new demands and supply modes of consumption. It is necessary to analyze the role of consumption expansion in the impact of digital economy on high-quality economic development. Based on Chinese provincial panel data, we first applied the entropy weight method to construct the digital economy index and the high-quality economic development index. And on this basis, it was verified that the digital economy can positively promote the high-quality development of the inverted U-shaped structural economy. Then we separately used the mediation and the threshold effect models to analyze the role of consumption expansion in empowering high-quality development in the digital economy. Regional heterogeneity was further taken into account. The results dedicate that consumer demand and the digital economy have a partial or complete mediating effect. The promotion of high-quality development by the digital economy can be affected by the threshold of consumption expansion, which is manifested in the marginal incremental effect due to the growth of consumption supply. On the contrary, the growth of consumer demand has led to the inverted U-shape of the digital economy to promote high-quality economic development. In the heterogeneity analysis, the threshold effect also varied greatly. This research enriches the theoretical achievements and reveals the impact of consumption expansion on the digital economy affecting the high-quality development, which may provide certain reference for other countries and regions.

Studies have found that the digital economy plays a positive role in promoting high-quality economic development. Meanwhile, the digital industrialization and industrial digitalization have given rise to new demands and supply modes of consumption. It is necessary to analyze the role of consumption expansion in the impact of digital economy on high-quality economic development. Based on Chinese provincial panel data, we first applied the entropy weight method to construct the digital economy index and the high-quality economic development index. And on this basis, it was verified that the digital economy can positively promote the high-quality development of the inverted U-shaped structural economy. Then we separately used the mediation and the threshold effect models to analyze the role of consumption expansion in empowering high-quality development in the digital economy. Regional heterogeneity was further taken into account. The results dedicate that consumer demand and the digital economy have a partial or complete mediating effect. The promotion of high-quality development by the digital economy can be affected by the threshold of consumption expansion, which is manifested in the marginal incremental effect due to the growth of consumption supply. On the contrary, the growth of consumer demand has led to the inverted U-shape of the digital economy to promote high-quality economic development. In the heterogeneity analysis, the threshold effect also varied greatly. This research enriches the theoretical achievements and reveals the impact of consumption expansion on the digital economy affecting the high-quality development, which may provide certain reference for other countries and regions.

Ready or not, here it comes: Assessing the gaps in community plans for renewable energy transitions within the United States

High-quality development of service trade (HDST) is becoming increasingly important for China’s high-quality development (HD). This builds new development patterns and cultivates new competitive advantages. In the digital economy (DE) era, HDST ushers an important opportunity. The use of DE to promote HDST is the focus of China’s current economic development strategy. After theoretical analysis using panel data of 18 sample regions (municipalities, provinces, directly under the central government, and autonomous regions) in China from 2012 to 2021, this study empirically studies the impact and mechanism of DE on HDST. The research results indicate that DE has significantly promoted the HDST in China. Based on its mechanism, the HDST can also be promoted by improving the human capital level. Moreover, compared with the eastern region, DE plays a more significant role in promoting the HDST in the central and western regions. With the opening of the new process of “digital China” construction, DE has played a stronger role in promoting the HDST after 2015. Based on theoretical and empirical analysis, suggestions are put forward to promote the HDST through the development of DE considering three aspects: improve the DE level, promote the coordinated development of regions, and strengthen personnel training, which provides references for relevant departments to formulate policies. For the promotion of HDST in China, this study provides an important reference from the perspective of improving the level of DE.