Digital Economy’s Influence on Urban Carbon Emissions: How It Works and Its Specific Ways

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62517/jbm.202609107

Author(s)

Yuanyuan Wang

Affiliation(s)

School of Economics, Guangzhou College of Commerce, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

Abstract

The whole world is focusing on climate governance now. China has its own dual carbon strategy too. It’s practically meaningful to explore how the digital economy affects carbon emissions in core cities. This paper takes Guangzhou as a research case. It builds a multi-angle evaluation system for the digital economy. The system covers three aspects: infrastructure, industrial development and technological application. It makes a systematic analysis of the inner ways and paths. Those are how the digital economy influences carbon emissions. The research has some findings. The digital economy can obviously restrain Guangzhou’s carbon emission intensity. This restraining effect is achieved through three ways. They are optimizing the energy structure, technological innovation and upgrading, and industrial structure transformation. Technological innovation is the core part in this whole process. This restraining effect has two main characteristics. One is the non-linear threshold feature, the other is obvious sectoral differences. It’s the strongest in the industrial sector. It’s second in the transportation sector, and relatively weak in the construction sector. The study has shown some conclusions. The digital economy is a strong driving force for megacities’ low-carbon transformation. We need to carry out precise policies. That’s the way to fully release its emission reduction potential.

Keywords

Digital Economy; Carbon Emission Intensity; Impact Mechanism; Non-Linear Threshold; Sectoral Heterogeneity

References

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