The Mechanism of Digital Economy Affecting Carbon Emissions:Evidence from China

Abstract

Abstract This paper attempts to reveal the impact mechanism of the digital economy on carbon emissions. In order to estimate the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions, this paper collected panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020. It uses a two-way fixed-effects model to conduct linear analysis and mediation mechanism testing. The results of this study are as follows.(1)The development of the digital economy can effectively reduce carbon emissions, and the robustness test and endogenous examination support the above conclusions.(2)Industrial structure upgrading and technological innovation are critical intermediary mechanisms.(3) At the same time, the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions is heterogeneous, and the effect of the western regions is greater than that of the eastern areas.So the digital economy has important implications for reducing carbon emissions.