Study on the impact mechanism of digital economy spatial network on regional carbon footprint

Abstract

This study utilizes panel data from 30 Chinese provinces for 2013–2021 and constructs a modified gravity model to quantitatively assess regional digital economy connections. We explore how the characteristics of the digital economy spatial network (Hereinafter referred to as “DESN”), including its node centrality, affect regional carbon footprints (Hereinafter referred to as “CF”). The results indicate: (1) the development of DESN can significantly reduce regional CF, and this conclusion remains valid after various robustness tests; (2) the effect of DECN on regional CF varies depending on the differences in resource endowments between provinces, whether the province is located along the Yangtze River Economic Belt (Hereinafter referred to as “YREB”), and the constraints of local government environmental governance targets; and (3) the DESN can effectively reduce regional CF through green technology innovation (Hereinafter referred to as “GTI”), upgrading industry structure (Hereinafter referred to as “IS”), optimizing energy structure (Hereinafter referred to as “ES”), lowering energy consumption (Hereinafter referred to as “EC”), and improving marketization levels (Hereinafter referred to as “ML”), according to mechanism tests.