The Impact Mechanism and Effect Evaluation of Digital Economy Development on Regional Carbon Emission Reduction: Evidence from Provincial Panel Data in China

Abstract

In the era of digitalization and under the context of "dual carbon", The green attributes of the digital economy have attracted attention, and it is worth exploring whether it can reduce carbon emissions. This paper uses inter-provincial data from 2011 to 2021 to examine whether the digital economy will play a positive role in carbon reduction. The findings are as follows: (1) There is a significant negative effect of digital economy development level on carbon emission intensity. (2) In the mediation test section, it is verified that the digital economy can reduce carbon emission intensity by optimizing the industrial structure, promoting the transformation of the energy consumption structure, improving green technology innovation, and optimizing the allocation of resources. (3) The article includes government intervention and human capital as moderating variables, and the results show that Human capital has a positive moderating effect between digital economy and carbon emission intensity, while government intervention has a negative moderating effect. (4) Digital economy has threshold effect on carbon emission intensity. (5) The influence of digital economy on carbon emission intensity shows a heterogeneous relationship between regions and factor endowments. The carbon emission reduction of digital economy in western and northeastern regions is more significant, and the abundance or scarcity of capital, labor and technology factors have different impacts on the carbon emission reduction effect of digital economy. At the same time, it further analyzes the influence of the difference of local government behavior. This paper argues that provinces and cities should strengthen the construction of digital economy, and at the same time should promote the coordinated development of digital economy among regions, which is important to achieve carbon emission reduction.