Ziyuan Kexue (Apr 2024)
The impact of digital industry agglomeration on synergistic pollution reduction and carbon emission reduction:Taking the Yangtze River Economic Belt as an example
Abstract
[Objective] Whether “digitization” and “green” can cooperate is one of the important scientific issues in the field of high-quality development and high-level protection research. The Yangtze River Economic Belt, as a significant cluster of the digital industry and a key area for pollution reduction and carbon emission reduction coordination, plays a pivotal role in the construction of a beautiful China and the realization of the dual carbon goals. [Methods] Based on the equity investment data of the digital industry and the environmental pollution and carbon emission data from 108 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt between 2010 and 2020, this study delineated the spatial pattern of the digital industry and the spatial and temporal change characteristics of pollution reduction and carbon emission reduction. A fixed-effect model was employed to explore the impact of the digital industry agglomeration on pollution reduction and carbon emission reduction coordination and mechanism. Additionally, a spatial Durbin model was constructed to analyze its spatial spillover effects and attenuation boundaries. [Results] The findings reveal that: (1) The investment network of the digital industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt exhibits a “multi-pathway, multi-polar” trend of spatial change, with net investment flows showing a clear tendency towards suburbanization, forming a “outflow from the center, receiving by the periphery” distribution pattern. (2) The agglomeration of the digital industry positively drives pollution reduction and carbon emission reduction, also demonstrating synergistic effects for both. This result remains robust after a series of endogeneity and robustness tests. Mechanism tests found that digital industry agglomeration can promote regional pollution reduction and carbon emission reduction coordination through scale economy effects, industrial upgrading effects, and technological innovation effects. (3) Digital industry agglomeration has a significant positive spatial spillover effect on pollution reduction and carbon emission reduction coordination. This effect presents a “right-tailed U-shaped” characteristic with increasing spatial distance. Meanwhile, the area within 250 km of the agglomeration is the “enhancement area” for spatial spillover effects, the area between 250 km and 450 km is the “attenuation area”, and beyond 450 km, the effect approaches zero and becomes insignificant. [Conclusion] Research has confirmed that leveraging the agglomeration effects of the digital industry can effectively promote synergistic improvements in regional pollution reduction and carbon emission mitigation.It is recommended to foster the agglomeration and networking development of the digital industry, encourage cross-regional investment in the digital industry, and implement differentiated strategies and cross-regional cooperation platforms.
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