How does intelligent transformation drive the synergy between carbon reduction and productivity improvement in China's marine manufacturing?

The in-depth integration of intelligent and green technologies is emerging as a new driving force for high-quality development in marine manufacturing. From a synergy perspective, this study investigates how intelligent manufacturing adoption (IMA) addresses the dual challenges of low productivity and high emissions, thereby facilitating the green transition of marine manufacturing. Using text-mining techniques to identify China's marine A-share listed firms from 2010 to 2022, we treat the intelligent manufacturing pilot demonstration project as a quasi-natural experiment and employ a staggered difference-in-differences approach to provide micro-level evidence of IMA's impact. Our results reveal that IMA significantly boosts total factor productivity in marine manufacturing (MMTFP) while simultaneously reducing carbon emission intensity (MMCEI), with pronounced effects in high-energy-consuming enterprises, coastal regions, and highly competitive industries. Mechanism analysis reveals that IMA promotes green upgrading through intelligent innovation, labor optimization, and asset informatization on the production side, and by stimulating demand for eco-friendly customization on the consumption side. However, stringent green certification requirements constrain firms' responsiveness to consumer preferences, thereby weakening the marginal impact of IMA on the consumption pathway. The impact of IMA exhibits an asymmetry: the effect on productivity is stronger among enterprises with higher MMTFP, whereas the effect on emission reduction is more pronounced among those with lower MMCEI. Overall, our findings underscore the pivotal role of IMA in promoting environmental sustainability, marking it as a key catalyst for green transition in marine manufacturing.