The Impact of the Digital Economy on China's Carbon Emissions

Abstract

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.