Ziyuan Kexue (Jun 2023)
The impact of digital economy development on inequity of carbon emissions
Abstract
[Objective] Carbon reduction is a process of “carbon emission scale reduction” and achieving “carbon emission equity”. The academic community currently pays more attention to the impact of the digital economy on carbon emission scale reduction, and there are relatively few empirical studies on carbon emission equity in digital economy development. This study empirically evaluated the impact of digital economy development on carbon emission inequity, and provides a decision-making reference for the high-quality development of emission reduction under the digital economy. [Methods] Based on China’s inter-provincial panel samples from 2006 to 2018, the Shapley value method was used to measure the carbon emission inequity index, taking into account the economic benefits and environmental governance costs, and used the principal component method to measure the level of the digital economy, focusing on the accumulation of information technology capital and the development of data capital. The panel model was used to evaluate the impact of digital economy development on carbon emission inequity and its mechanism. [Results] (1) The relationship between the digital economy and carbon emission inequity follows an inverted-U trajectory. In the initial stages, the growth of the digital economy aggravated carbon emission inequity, and then began to support the enhancement of carbon emission equity. Currently, the relationship remains in the aggravation stage. For every one percentage point increase in the digital economy development index, the carbon inequity index will rise by about 4.046%, under the same conditions. (2) From the perspective of the impact mechanism of energy consumption, the current interaction between the digital economy development and energy intensity and energy justice can alleviate carbon emission inequity. However, its interaction with energy consumption structure and scale has no significant mitigation effect on carbon emission inequity. (3) From the perspective of the mechanism of influence of coordinated development, the interaction between the digital economy and fiscal decentralization level will hinder the equitable development of carbon emissions, while the interaction between the digital economy and urban-rural economic development gap has no significant impact on carbon emission inequity. [Conclusion] Currently, the energy consumption structure, energy consumption scale and collaborative development effect of digital economy have not played a role in mitigating carbon emission inequity. It is necessary to accelerate the improvement of energy consumption control mechanism and collaborative development mechanism in the digital economy to further promote carbon equity, so as to help realize the high-quality development of the “dual carbon” strategy.
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