数字技术创新的强劲“东风”助力中国“双碳”目标实现是兼顾环境与发展、满足人民日益增长美好生活需要的重要途径。基于2006—2021年中国内地279个城市面板数据，运用297万件数字技术授权专利衡量中国地级市数字技术创新水平，从城市碳强度视角考察数字技术创新的影响。研究发现：①数字技术创新通过降低能源消耗强度和推动产业结构升级降低城市碳排放强度，国家智慧城市、国家知识产权城市和国家低碳城市试点政策有助于增强数字技术创新的减碳作用；②空间计量结果显示，数字技术创新通过城市间“虹吸效应”和“示范效应”产生空间协同降碳作用，整体上通过空间溢出对周边经济水平相近城市群产生碳强度削弱效应；③数字技术创新降碳程度因城市地理区位不同、能源禀赋差异存在异质性，不同类型数字核心产业创新及不同研究类型数字创新均能显著降低碳强度。因此，应把握数字技术创新机遇，构建低碳零碳负碳技术创新体系，因地制宜做好城市科技创新以支持碳达峰。

In order to cope with global climate change more effectively, it is a new mission to achieve low-carbon transformation for governments and businesses worldwide. Global environmental governance needs to make fresh contributions to building green and low-carbon production and lifestyles. Digital technology innovation, including artificial intelligence, big data analysis, and the Internet of Things, offers unprecedented opportunities for building a low-carbon economy. These innovations not only inject new vitality into traditional industries but also help reduce carbon emissions by improving energy efficiency and providing intelligent carbon management tools. Digital technology also gives rise to emerging industries, such as clean energy and intelligent transportation, which inherently have lower carbon footprints. Therefore, digital technology innovation is a key driver in promoting low-carbon transformation, reducing carbon emissions in traditional industries, and fostering new low-carbon economic growth. However, existing research lacks in-depth examination of the impact of technological innovation on carbon emissions, particularly in the field of digital technology innovation. Most studies tend to construct comprehensive indicators for the development of the digital economy to explore the relationship between digital economy development and carbon emissions.In-depth research on how digital technology innovation promotes low-carbon economic transformation is crucial for understanding its impact mechanisms and optimizing policy formulation.
In terms of research methodology, this paper analyzes the direct effects, indirect mechanisms, policy adjustments, and spatial spillover paths of digital technology innovation on low-carbon transformation. In order to examine the role of digital technology innovation in low-carbon transformation from the perspective of urban carbon intensity, the study selects the panel data from 279 Chinese cities from 2006 to 2021 to measure the level of digital technology innovation in Chinese cities with 2.97 million digital technology patents. Empirically, the main model for testing direct effects is the two-way fixed effects model; and then the mediation effect models and moderation effect models are used to analyze the indirect mechanisms and policy adjustments, respectively. The spatial carbon emission reduction effect of digital technology innovation is estimated using spatial Durbin and spatial lag models.
The study concludes that digital technology innovation reduces urban carbon emission intensity by lowering energy consumption intensity and promoting industrial and service sector upgrades through mediation effect channels within cities. External policies such as national smart cities, national intellectual property cities, and national low-carbon city pilots beef up the carbon reduction impact of digital technology innovation. Spatial econometric results show that digital technology innovation produces a synergistic carbon reduction effect through "siphoning" and "demonstration" effects among cities, overall reducing carbon intensity in surrounding economically similar urban agglomerations through spatial spillover. Moreover, the degree of carbon reduction through digital technology innovation varies depending on a city's geographical location and energy endowment, with different types of digital core industry innovations and different types of digital innovation research significantly reducing carbon intensity. Overall, this paper provides policy insights that the government should seize the opportunities of digital technology innovation, fully leverage the low-carbon transformation potential of digital technology, build a network of digital technology innovation spillovers, and appropriately support urban digital technology innovation for carbon peaking and neutrality.
This paper makes marginal contributions in three aspects. First, it explores the factors influencing urban carbon emission reduction from the perspective of digital technology innovation, verifying the direct impact of digital technology innovation on reducing carbon emission intensity and exploring its internal mediation mechanisms and external policy regulation mechanisms. Second, it measures digital technology innovation with patents authorized in the core industries of the digital economy and further uses spatial econometric models to examine the spatial spillover paths of digital technology innovation in reducing carbon emission intensity,which helps to explore the spatial paths of carbon reduction through digital technology innovation. Third, the paper also examines the heterogeneity in reducing carbon intensity through digital technology innovation among cities with different geographical locations and resource differences, as well as among various core industry innovations in the digital economy and different research on digital technology innovation.