IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v69y2024ipbs1544612324012753.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of digital economy on low-carbon transition: What is the role of human capital?

Author

Listed:
  • Cao, Lihong
  • Wang, Yueying
  • Yu, Jinyi
  • Zhang, Yikai
  • Yin, Xiaoye

Abstract

With the global increasingly higher requirements for sustainability, it is of great importance to understand the relationships between the digital economy, human capital, and energy transition becomes crucial, especially in China, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Using data from 30 provinces between 2012 and 2021, this paper explored the influence of digitalization and human capital on China's low-carbon transition by means of advanced econometric techniques, including dynamic panel models and robustness checks. Our findings revealed that the digital economy significantly enhanced energy efficiency, with human capital acting as a key moderating factor. The analysis highlighted that the higher level of digital infrastructure and skilled labor a region has, the more it would benefit from digitalization in terms of energy efficiency. The results underscore the need for region-specific policies that simultaneously promote digital innovation and human capital development to align China's environmental sustainability goals with its economic growth in the digital era.

Suggested Citation

  • Cao, Lihong & Wang, Yueying & Yu, Jinyi & Zhang, Yikai & Yin, Xiaoye, 2024. "The impact of digital economy on low-carbon transition: What is the role of human capital?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(PB).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:69:y:2024:i:pb:s1544612324012753
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2024.106246
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612324012753
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2024.106246?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wang, Jianda & Dong, Kangyin & Dong, Xiucheng & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2022. "Assessing the digital economy and its carbon-mitigation effects: The case of China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    2. Yi, Jiahui & Dai, Sheng & Li, Lin & Cheng, Jinhua, 2024. "How does digital economy development affect renewable energy innovation?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    3. Xiaodong Yang & Yang Xu & Asif Razzaq & Desheng Wu & Jianhong Cao & Qiying Ran, 2024. "Roadmap to achieving sustainable development: Does digital economy matter in industrial green transformation?," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 2583-2599, June.
    4. Pan, Wenrong & Xie, Tao & Wang, Zhuwang & Ma, Lisha, 2022. "Digital economy: An innovation driver for total factor productivity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 303-311.
    5. Zhou, Sheng & Tong, Qing & Pan, Xunzhang & Cao, Min & Wang, Hailin & Gao, Ji & Ou, Xunmin, 2021. "Research on low-carbon energy transformation of China necessary to achieve the Paris agreement goals: A global perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    6. Yu, Wanqing & Gan, Yufei & Zhou, Bingjun & Dai, Jiapeng, 2024. "Revisiting the economic policy uncertainty and resource rents nexus: Moderating impact of financial sector development in BRICS," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    7. Zhang, Dongyang & Wang, Jinli & Wang, Yizhi, 2023. "Greening through centralization of environmental monitoring?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    8. Wang, Mei & Xu, Mi & Ma, Shaojun, 2021. "The effect of the spatial heterogeneity of human capital structure on regional green total factor productivity," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 427-441.
    9. Jiao, Jianling & Song, Jiangfeng & Ding, Tao, 2024. "The impact of synergistic development of renewable energy and digital economy on energy intensity: Evidence from 33 countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    10. Kahrl, Fredrich & Williams, Jim & Jianhua, Ding & Junfeng, Hu, 2011. "Challenges to China's transition to a low carbon electricity system," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 4032-4041, July.
    11. Hazwan Haini, 2021. "Examining the impact of ICT, human capital and carbon emissions: Evidence from the ASEAN economies," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 166, pages 116-125.
    12. Zhao, Haoran & Guo, Sen, 2023. "Analysis of the non-linear impact of digital economy development on energy intensity: Empirical research based on the PSTR model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    13. Guo, Bingnan & Wang, Yu & Zhang, Hao & Liang, Chunyan & Feng, Yu & Hu, Feng, 2023. "Impact of the digital economy on high-quality urban economic development: Evidence from Chinese cities," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    14. Wang, Yizhi, 2022. "Volatility spillovers across NFTs news attention and financial markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tian, Lichuan & Sun, Kai & Yang, Jie & Zhao, Yang, 2024. "Does digital economy affect corporate ESG performance? New insights from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PB), pages 964-980.
    2. Liu, Baoliu & Huang, Yujie & Chen, Mengmei & Lan, Zirui, 2024. "Towards sustainability: How does the digital-real integration affect regional green development efficiency?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 42-59.
    3. Shen, Hongshan & Qin, Mengyao & Li, Tianyi & Zhang, Xuan & Zhao, Yang, 2024. "Digital finance and industrial structure upgrading: Evidence from Chinese counties," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PB).
    4. Fu, Shuke & Ge, Yingchen & Hao, Yu & Peng, Jiachao & Tian, Jiali, 2024. "Energy supply chain efficiency in the digital era: Evidence from China's listed companies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    5. Zhao, Xiaoyang & Weng, Zongyuan, 2024. "Digital dividend or divide: The digital economy and urban entrepreneurial activity," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    6. Li, Yu & Yaacob, Mohd Hasimi & Xie, Tao, 2024. "Effects of China's low carbon pilot city policy on corporate green innovation: Considering the mediating role of public environmental concern," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Lyu, Yanwei & Zhang, Jinning & Wang, Wenqiang & Li, Yutao & Geng, Yong, 2024. "Toward low carbon development through digital economy: A new perspective of factor market distortion," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    8. Sun, Chuanwang & Khan, Anwar & Xue, Juntao & Huang, Xiaoyong, 2024. "Are digital economy and financial structure driving renewable energy technology innovations: A major eight countries perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 362(C).
    9. Jing Hou & Xin Li & Feiyu Chen & Bo Hou, 2024. "The Effect of Digital Economy on Rural Environmental Governance: Evidence from China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-32, November.
    10. Sun, Na & Long, Wei, 2024. "Does mineral resource consumption reduce by energy transition and fossil fuel energy intensity? Moderating role of financial inclusion and digitalization," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    11. Gaofei Wang & Yi Yang, 2024. "Quantitative Evaluation of Digital Economy Policy in Heilongjiang Province of China Based on the PMC-AE Index Model," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(1), pages 21582440241, March.
    12. Yi, Jiahui & Dai, Sheng & Li, Lin & Cheng, Jinhua, 2024. "How does digital economy development affect renewable energy innovation?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    13. Cai, Hechang & Wang, Zilong & Ji, Yi & Xu, Liuyang, 2024. "Digitalization and innovation: How does the digital economy drive technology transfer in China?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    14. Wang, Jianda & Dong, Kangyin & Dong, Xiucheng & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2022. "Assessing the digital economy and its carbon-mitigation effects: The case of China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    15. Miao, Yongming & Li, Yaokuang & Wu, Yanrui, 2024. "Digital economy and economic competitive pressure on local governments: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    16. Yang, Senmiao & Wang, Jianda & Dong, Kangyin & Jiang, Qingzhe, 2023. "A path towards China's energy justice: How does digital technology innovation bring about a just revolution?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PA).
    17. Jinqi Chen & Lingying Pan, 2024. "Impact of the Coupling Coordination Degree of Human Capital and Infrastructure on High-Quality Economic Development: Empirical Evidence from Chinese Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-24, October.
    18. Chen, Qian, 2024. "Impact of sentiment tendency of media coverage on corporate green total factor productivity: The moderating role of environmental uncertainty," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    19. Sun, Yizhong & Zhou, Lanxuanjie & Wang, Deyong & Jin, Keyan & Wu, Qingyang & Wu, Ran, 2024. "How economic policy uncertainty affects common prosperity in China? The mediating role of green finance and the moderating role of low-carbon technology," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(PA).
    20. Jia, Shanghui & Chen, Xinhui & Jin, Jiayu, 2024. "Digital disruption and energy efficiency: The impact of regional digitalization on China's industrial sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:69:y:2024:i:pb:s1544612324012753. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.