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| Digital Economy, Heterogeneous Technological Innovation and Carbon Dioxide Emissions |
| Liu Tan,Xu Zhangyong |
| (School of Economics and Management, Northwest University,Xi'an 710127,China) |
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Abstract The Chinese government has been striving to reach the peak of carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.It is acknowledged that practical and efficient carbon reduction requires the support of technological innovation.Although China has already promoted some low-carbon technology research and development in fields such as wind and solar energy, there are still some technologies that rely on foreign imports, and the overallnational technological capability has much room for improvement.Moreover, technological progress does not always contribute to energy conservation and emission reduction, and there are differences in environmental benefits under different technological paths.The level of independent innovation capability is related to the possibility of meeting the actual domestic technological needs.Therefore, it is necessary to explore new driving forces to stimulate innovation vitality, strengthen independent innovation, accelerate the transformation of energy structure, and promote the reduction of carbon emissions.Meanwhile, the government has stressed the necessity of accelerating the green transformation of production and lifestyle, and the need to promote the integration of digital, intelligent, and green development in the industrial field.These practical needs raise the following questions.What is the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions? Can technological innovation become an indirect channel for the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions? What are the differences in the effectiveness of different technological innovation models? Will regional heterogeneity in innovation capability also affect the relationship between the two?#br#The study constructs a benchmark model to verify the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions; to investigate the mechanism of the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions, it draws inspiration from Baron&Kenny's step regression approach and sets up a mediating model to verify whether technology introduction, imitation innovation, and independent innovation could be the transmission pathways of the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions; the study further sets up a panel threshold model to explore the threshold characteristics of the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions.The provincial panel data in this study mainly comes from the China Statistical Yearbook, China Science and Technology Statistical Yearbook, China Environmental Statistical Yearbook, China Industrial Statistical Yearbook, and China Urban Statistical Yearbook; the digital finance data is sourced from the "Peking University Digital Inclusive Finance Index"; the CO2 emission data comes from the China Carbon Accounting Database (CEADs).The data from 30 provinces (cities, districts) in China from 2011 to 2020 is then taken as research samples to empirically test the impact of the digital economy on carbon dioxide emissions.The study divides technological innovation into three modes of technology introduction, imitation innovation and independent innovation to examine the transmission path of heterogeneous technological innovation.#br#It is found that the digital economy can significantly reduce carbon emissions, but the digital economy would increase carbon emissions in the early stages of development, both of which show the "inverted U" threshold characteristics.The mechanism test shows that the digital economy reduces carbon emissions by promoting independent innovation and imitation innovation, but technology introduction is not an effective path.Moreover, with the improvement of independent innovation and imitation innovation, the carbon emission reduction effect of the digital economy is becoming more and more obvious.Further research shows that in regions with high levels of comprehensive innovation, human capital and intellectual property protection,the digital economy has a stronger role in carbon reduction.#br#The conclusion reveals that in the era of digital economy, it is essential to promote the deep integration of digital technology and traditional industries, apply digital technologies to reduce carbon emissions of traditional industries, and achieve win-win economic and environmental benefits; moreover,it is critical to strengthen the independent innovation and imitation of low-carbon technologies, and fully release the carbon reduction effect of the digital economy; last but not least, for local governments, they should have a deep understanding of regional heterogeneity, and improve the local construction of a low-carbon innovation system according to their conditions.#br#
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Received: 20 July 2022
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