Can digital technology reduce carbon emissions? Evidence from Chinese cities

Abstract

IntroductionGlobal warming presents significant challenges to the sustainable development of human society. Accelerating the achievement of carbon peak and neutrality is the vision for creating a global ecological community with a shared future. The development of digital technology provides us with the direction of action.MethodsBased on panel data from 276 cities in China from 2011 to 2020, principal component analysis was used to measure the basic state of digital technology at the city level, and the twoway fixed effects model and instrumental variable method to verify the impact of digital technology on carbon emissions from the perspective of technology diffusion.ResultsThe results show that the deep diffusion of digital technology in the real economy sector is helpful to improve productivity and carbon efficiency, thus significantly reducing carbon emissions. The role of digital technologies in reducing carbon emissions is heterogeneous. The results of the sub-sample test show that digital technology has a stronger emission reduction effect in large-scale cities, resource-based cities, smart cities and emission trading policy pilot areas. Digital technology can reduce carbon emissions by improving energy efficiency, promoting green technology innovation, and promoting virtual agglomeration.DiscussionsThe contribution of this paper is that it not only reveals that digital technology can reduce carbon emissions but also analyzes the emission reduction path of digital technology from a new perspective. The conclusion of this paper has implications for accelerating the diffusion of digital technology in the real economy sector to accelerate the realization of green production and cope with climate change.

Digitization Meets Energy Transition: Shaping the Future of Environmental Sustainability

“…In contrast, the central and western regions are at different stages of digital development. As indicated by Zhang et al [211], Liu et al [212], and Wang et al [213], these regions are experiencing a slower digital progression, affecting their ability to fully utilize digitalization in their energy transition and carbon dioxide emissions reduction efforts. These insights demonstrate the critical role of digitalization in enhancing the environmental benefits of energy transitions, especially in regions with higher technological advancement.…”

The spatial effect of integrated economy on carbon emissions in the era of big data: a case study of China

“…And the results show that most of the provinces and cities in China can achieve the goal of a carbon peak by 2030, and only individual regions, such as Hubao, Eyu and Elm, have difficulties in achieving a carbon peak (Zhang et al, 2022b;Dai et al, 2022). Finally, according to existing research, public policy factors such as carbon emission trading pilot programs and low-carbon city pilot policies , industrial structure factors such as energy structure and industrial robots (Meng et al, 2018;Li and Zhou, 2021;Jiang et al, 2023), and macro technological factors such as outward direct investment, population aggregation, digital economy development (Zhao and Zhu, 2022;Liu et al, 2023), and technological innovation will all have an impact on carbon emissions, carbon intensity, or efficiency (Chen et al, 2023;Zha et al, 2023).…”

“…On the other hand, using digital technology in the real economy can fully leverage the efficiency effect of innovative technology, accelerating the transformation and upgrading of the real industrial structure towards low-carbon and environmentally friendly green industries (Liu et al, 2023). The real economy provides a source of data elements for the digital economy, increasing the demand for digital technology in the real industry, driving digital technology innovation, improving innovation efficiency, and achieving regional carbon emissions reduction (Shi and Sun, 2023).…”