Double-edged sword? Heterogeneous effects of digital technology on environmental regulation-driven green transformation.

In the context of China's dual carbon goal, enterprises' green transformation is a key path to advancing the nation's high-quality economic development. A majority of existing studies have regarded digital technology as a homogeneous variable, and the heterogeneous impact of various technologies have not been sufficiently explored. Therefore, based on Chinese enterprises' data from 2012 to 2022, this study systematically examines the influence of environmental regulations (ETS) on enterprises' green transformation (GT) from the perspective of digital empowerment by employing difference-in-differences and threshold regression models. The findings reveal that digital transformation (DT) enhances the influence of environmental regulation by strengthening cost and innovation compensation effects. Further analysis indicates that different digital technologies have significant double-edged sword characteristics, wherein artificial intelligence negatively regulates both mechanisms, reflecting a lack of technological adaptability; cloud computing significantly enhances the positive impact of environmental regulation, reflecting its technological maturity; and big data technologies only positively regulate the innovation compensation effect, reflecting the enterprises' application preference. In addition, the combination of digital technologies does not create synergies, indicating firms' challenges in terms of absorptive capacity and organizational change. This study expands the theoretical research on environmental regulation and green transformation and provides a valuable reference for the government to develop targeted policies and enterprises to optimize the path of green transformation.