Ziyuan Kexue (Nov 2023)
The synergistic effect of digital economy on pollution and carbon reduction and the influence mechanism:An empirical test based on prefecture-level city data
Abstract
[Objective] The digital economy is an important focus for realizing the transformation of China’s old and new development momentums, and its extensive integration and continuous development within various economic and social fields have given China a new power dynamic for the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. In the critical window of promoting the construction of “Beautiful China” and realizing the “dual-carbon” climate commitment, the study of the impact of the development of the digital economy on the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction is an important proposition in the context of realizing green and high-quality development in China. [Methods] Based on the panel data of 277 prefecture-level and above cities, this study examined the impact of the digital economy on the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction and its mediation mechanism in multiple dimensions by using fixed effect and mediation effect models. [Results] The findings are as follows: (1) The development of the digital economy significantly contributes to the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and the conclusions still hold after endogeneity and robustness tests using the instrumental variable method and excluding the four provincial-level municipalities. (2) The “broadband China” strategy was chosen as an exogenous policy shock, and the multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model was used to evaluate the impact of the digital economy on the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. The regression results show that the “broadband China” strategy had a positive and significant impact on the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. (3) The test results of the mechanism analysis show that the development of the digital economy can promote the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction by improving technologies, promoting industrial structure upgrading, and enhancing public environmental supervision. (4) The analysis of regional heterogeneity showed that the impact of the digital economy on the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction is more significant in the eastern region and non-resource-based cities, while the impact is not significant in the central and western regions and resource-based cities, which is mainly related to the uncoordinated level of digital economy development among regions. [Conclusion] We should vigorously develop the digital economy, accelerate the construction of new infrastructures, strengthen environmental awareness and action of the government, enterprises and the public, and fully unleash the potential of the digital economy based on the comparative advantages of the resources in each region, so as to realize synergies in reducing pollution and carbon emissions.
Keywords
