Can high-speed rail break green technology diffusion curse? Evidence from China

High-speed rail (HSR) is an emerging major infrastructure construction project that is characterized by government-led initiatives, strong environmental regulation, and enhanced resource flow. This research considers innovators, adopters, and diffusion channels to construct a mechanism analysis framework of HSR on green technology diffusion. Using a panel data set of 274 cities in China from 2006 to 2019, we adopted a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) model to investigate how HSR affects green technology diffusion. The results indicate that HSR facilitates lead to a 0.438 enhancement in the diffusion of green technology in China, and this conclusion remains valid in a series of robustness tests. We also identified “innovator-adopter” dual effect and channel-enhancing effect as two important mechanisms by which HSR affects green technology diffusion. Furthermore, the contribution of HSR on green technology diffusion is more significant in central and western China, in cities with strong green awareness, and in cities with high service density and multiple stations. These findings can contribute to our understanding of the potential benefits of HSR on green technology diffusion and provide important implications for decision making related to the environmentally friendly transition of HSR cities in the era of low carbon development.