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| The Mechanism and Effect of Digital Economy to Promote CO2 Emission Reduction: An Empirical Investigation Based on the Green Technological Progress |
| Du Xin1,2 |
| (1.Zheshang Bank Postdoctoral Workstation, Hangzhou 310006, China;2. School of Economics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China) |
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Abstract To mitigate climate warming, CO2 emission reduction has become an international consensus and an important issue.Along with the iterative update of new-generation information technology, the development of the digital economy brings new opportunities for CO2 emission reduction by reorganizing factor allocation, reshaping economic structure, and reconstructing industrial ecology.Previous literature has revealed the macro mechanism of the digital economy and its economic effects, gradually focusing on its environmental effects, but has not yet effectively clarified the influence path and direction of the digital economy on CO2 emission reduction.Therefore, the interpretation of CO2 emission reduction mechanism and the identification of CO2 emission reduction effect on the digital economy need to be further extended.#br#In this regard, this article introduces the digital economy into the analysis framework of CO2 emission impact factors and conducts a multi-dimensional empirical analysis by using Chinese provincial panel data from 2013-2021, combined with the fixed effects model, panel quantile regression model, spatial econometric model, and simultaneous equation model.The findings show that (1) the development of digital economy has a significant pro-reduction effect on CO2 emissions, and this conclusion still holds after instrumental variable estimation and robustness testing; (2) there exists a trans-boundary CO2 emission reduction effect, implying that the digital economy not only shows a negative spatial spillover effect on CO2 emissions in spatially connected regions, but also reduces the CO2 emission level in the region through a circular feedback mechanism; (3) the mechanism assessment indicates that the green technological progress characterized by green technological innovation capability and green total factor productivity shows a "technology dividend" effect, which is an important way for the digital economy to promote CO2 emission reduction; and under the regulation of factor market development, the optimization of the endowment structure and the improvement of the marketization of technological achievements significantly strengthen the CO2 emission reduction effect of the digital economy; (4) the heterogeneity analysis indicates that the digital economy has a significantly stronger effect on CO2 emission reduction in northern regions than in southern regions, and its reduction effect is only significant within urban clusters; moreover, simply strengthening digital infrastructure does not effectively promote CO2 emission reduction, the development of digital industrialization and digital transformation of production and life are the driving force to promote the long-term decline of CO2 emissions.#br#According to the above conclusions, the following policy implications are presented.First, it is necessary to promote the high-quality development of the digital economy while expanding the scale of digital infrastructure so as to strengthen the resource allocation function of the digital economy.Second, a regional collaboration mechanism should be established to bridge the digital divide and form a regional pattern of coordinated development of the digital economy, and while it is essential to enhance communication and coordination of policy design and implementation to share low-carbon development experiences and form a regional synergy of "digital emission reduction".Last, the green bias of technological progress should be strengthened by deepening the integration and application of digital technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence, and blockchain in the fields of energy conservation, environmental protection, and clean energy.Besides, to stimulate market participants to carry out green technology research, the government may provide financial support through special funds or policy subsidies, and guide the green consumption behavior of residents through differential consumption tax policies.#br#Different from previous literature, this article takes the resource allocation effect of digital economy operation as the entry point, innovatively clarifies the endogenous mechanism of digital economy promoting CO2 emission reduction from the perspective of green technological progress, thus providing a new perspective to achieve the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.In addition, it adopts the instrumental variable approach to identify the causal relationship between the development of digital economy and CO2 emission reduction, and combines the transmission mechanism test, moderating effect test, and heterogeneity analysis to provide a more reliable and robust empirical basis for giving full play to the CO2 emission reduction effect of digital economy.#br#
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Received: 08 February 2023
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