Digital economy, land resource misallocation and urban carbon emissions in Chinese resource-based cities

In the context of global climate change, China is actively promoting the deep integration of “digital economy" and a “low-carbon economy." Studying the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions has become a crucial task. Therefore, this study examines the direction and channels of the digital economy's impact on urban carbon emissions using the two-way fixed effects and mediation effects model. The study shows that the digital economy significantly inhibits urban carbon emissions, and the conclusion still holds after various robustness tests. The digital economy can mitigate land resource mismatch through effective mitigation, while the rational allocation and use of land resources contribute to reducing urban carbon emissions. From the heterogeneity perspective, the digital economy's inhibitory effect on urban carbon emissions is more evident in places outside the Yangtze River Economic Belt and non-resource cities. This argues that the development of the digital economy should be fully promoted, and the allocation of land resources should be optimized to release the digital economy's environmental dividend. Meanwhile, developing regional differentiation policies is crucial to achieving carbon emission reduction.