Input Digitization of the Manufacturing Industry and Carbon Emission Intensity Based on Testing the World and Developing Countries

Abstract

Facing the increasingly deteriorating climate, carbon emission reduction has become a global consensus. In particular, as an industry with very serious pollution emissions, the manufacturing industry is under enormous pressure to reduce environmental consumption. At the same time, against the background of rapid digitization development, the production and organization of the manufacturing industry have greatly changed, which also provides new research ideas for global carbon emission reduction. Based on the panel data of 40 major economies in the world, this paper calculates the degree of input digitization of the manufacturing industry using the input–output method and constructs a triple fixed effect model to analyze the impact of manufacturing’s input digitization on its carbon emission intensity from the perspective of the world and developing countries. The research finds that, first, on the global level, input digitization significantly reduces the carbon emission intensity of manufacturing, and the effect of carbon reduction increases gradually over time, with a noticeable industry spillover effect. Second, the test results from developing countries show that the relationship between digital input from developed countries and manufacturing’s carbon intensity in developing countries presents an inverted U shape. Third, heterogeneity analysis shows that digital input has the most obvious effect on carbon reduction in the pollution-intensive manufacturing sector. Tracking the sources of digital input, it is found that digital input from high-tech economies has the most obvious effect on carbon reduction. The paper takes the lead in clarifying the impact of digitization on carbon emissions from the manufacturing sector, expands the existing research on the digital economy and the environment, and also makes a theoretical contribution to global carbon emission reduction.