Can digital technology reduce carbon emissions? Evidence from Chinese cities

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

Ecology and Evolution

Yang Shen¹  Hui Liu²  Lili Wang³ 

[1] Institute of Quantitative Economics, Huaqiao University, Xiamen, China;School of Economics and Management, Qilu Normal University, Jinan, China;School of Mathematics and Statistics, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China;

关键词: digital technology;    carbon neutrality;    energy efficiency;    green technology innovation;    virtual agglomeration;    technology diffusion;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fevo.2023.1205634

 received in 2023-04-14, accepted in 2023-07-28,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

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.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Liu, Wang and Shen