School of Business, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng Shangdong, People's Republic of China.
School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
PLoS One. 2024 Sep 6;19(9):e0308001. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0308001. eCollection 2024.
As a new type of economic format, digital economy has three major characteristics: technical, innovative, energy-saving and environmentally friendly. Acting on various sectors of the national economy, it is beneficial for improving carbon emission efficiency and is of great significance for achieving China's two major goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Firstly, theoretical analysis of the impact mechanism of digital economy on carbon emission efficiency, proposing research hypotheses on the direct effect, mediating effect, and spatial effect of digital economy on carbon emission efficiency. Secondly, based on panel data from 279 cities in China from 2011 to 2020, the econometric models are constructed to empirically analyze the direct, mediating, and spatial effects of digital economy on carbon emission efficiency. The results show that: 1) Digital economy can improve carbon emission efficiency; 2) The impact of digital economy on carbon emission efficiency has a "U"-shaped relationship, which is consistent with the "Environmental Kuznets Curve" hypothesis; 3) The impacts of digital economy on carbon emission efficiency exist in urban heterogeneity, specifically manifested as regional heterogeneity and urban scale heterogeneity; 4) Technological innovation is an important mediator for improving carbon emission efficiency in digital economy, and promoting technological innovation in digital economy can improve carbon emission efficiency; 5) Digital economy has spatial effect on carbon emission efficiency, which can improve the carbon emission efficiency of neighboring cities. Finally, based on the above results, suggestions are proposed from three aspects: promoting important industries and key areas for deep cultivation of carbon emission in digital economy, emphasizing regional balance in the development of digital economy, and strengthening regional cooperation in the development of digital economy, in order to continue to play a positive role in improving carbon emission efficiency through digital economy.
作为一种新型经济形态，数字经济具有技术、创新、节能、环保三大特征。作用于国民经济各部门，有利于提高碳排放效率，对实现中国碳达峰、碳中和两大目标具有重要意义。首先，从理论上分析数字经济对碳排放效率的影响机制，提出数字经济对碳排放效率的直接效应、中介效应和空间效应的研究假设。其次，基于 2011-2020 年中国 279 个城市的面板数据，构建计量模型实证分析数字经济对碳排放效率的直接、中介和空间效应。结果表明：1）数字经济能够提高碳排放效率；2）数字经济对碳排放效率的影响存在“U”型关系，符合“环境库兹涅茨曲线”假说；3）数字经济对碳排放效率的影响存在城市异质性，具体表现为区域异质性和城市规模异质性；4）数字经济对碳排放效率的影响存在技术创新的中介作用，促进数字经济中的技术创新可以提高碳排放效率；5）数字经济对碳排放效率具有空间效应，可以提高相邻城市的碳排放效率。最后，基于以上结果，从数字经济在重点行业和关键领域深度挖掘碳减排、数字经济发展强调区域平衡以及数字经济发展加强区域合作三个方面提出建议，以继续通过数字经济发挥积极作用，提高碳排放效率。
