Carbon emission efficiency in the age of digital economy: New insights on green technology progress and industrial structure distortion

There is a dual impact of the digital economy (DE) on carbon emission efficiency (CE). An in‐depth study of the impact of the DE on “local‐adjacent” CE at different spatial scales can support the debate on whether the digital economy is empowerment or impairment. This study reassesses the DE at the urban level from a micro‐perspective by cross‐referencing the data of listed companies with the information obtained from city yearbooks. Considering the potential spatial correlation of the digital economy, we use the spatial Durbin model to examine 281 cities from 2011 to 2019 and study the influence of the DE on “local‐adjacent” CE. We further explain the pathways of this influence from the perspectives of green technological progress and industrial structural distortion. The study findings indicate that the impact of DE on local CE exhibits a “U”‐shaped pattern overall while its impact on neighboring CE shows an inverted “U”‐shaped pattern. These conclusions are still valid even after conducting a series of robustness tests, including spatial difference‐in‐differences and spatial replacement matrix. Further research reveals that the impact of DE on neighboring CE weakens with increasing spatial distance. The promoting effect of DE on neighboring CE peaks at 250 km, and the inverted “U”‐shaped pattern holds within a range of 300 km. In the initial stages, green technological progress can mask the negative impact of DE on local CE while simultaneously improving CE within a 250‐km range of neighboring areas. However, in the later stages, DE exacerbates the distortion of neighboring industrial structures, thereby reducing neighboring CE. The lack of synergy in the scale and growth rate of DE development in different regions significantly reduces the enhancement effect of the digital economy on CE.