The Impact of the Digital Economy on Urban Carbon Emissions Reduction: Evidence from Cities in the Yangtze River Delta
摘要
The digital economy serves as a vital engine for optimizing urban industrial structure and promoting energy-saving and emission-reduction potential, which is a crucial driving force for achieving the urban carbon emission reduction. This study investigates the transmission effects of digital economy development on urban carbon emission reduction in the cities of the Yangtze River Delta. It explores how improvements in industrial structure and reductions in carbon emission intensity contribute to this process, employing an extended Stochastic Impact by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model. Empirical findings reveal that digital economy development significantly enhances industrial structure upgrades and the implementation of emission reduction policies in these cities. The results highlight the considerable effect of the digital economy on urban carbon emissions reduction in the Yangtze River Delta. Furthermore, the effectiveness of energy-saving policy implementation, the rationality of industrial structure, and investments in research and development are identified as significant factors influencing urban carbon emissions reduction in these cities. Overall, this study enriches new insights into the promotion influence between digital economy development and carbon emissions reduction, and emphasizing the crucial need for digital economy to deeply integrate environmental sustainability.
HighlightsDigital economy produces a significant effect on reducing urban CO2 emissions. Digital economy amplifies urban CO2 emission reduction via industrial structure. Digital economy improves the implementation of emission reduction policies. Digital economy enlarges reduction effect on CO2 emissions via policy execution.