IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i11p8557-d1155134.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Digital Economy, Energy Structure Transformation, and Regional Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Author

Listed:
  • Jingwei Sun

    (School of Economics, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, China
    Zhejiang Informatization Development Institute, Hangzhou 310018, China)

  • Jingzhu Chen

    (School of Economics, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, China)

Abstract

For China to reach its “dual carbon” aim, the digital economy presents both opportunities and obstacles. This paper examines the potential impact of digital economy development on regional carbon dioxide emissions, concluding that while the direct impact on regional carbon dioxide emissions through industrial structure upgrading and technological progress is unclear, the indirect impact through promoting energy structure transformation is both positive and clear. This research experimentally validates the results of a theoretical analysis using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2019 and the STIRPAT model and discovers an inverted U-shaped association between digital economy development and regional carbon dioxide emissions. According to the transmission path test, the digital economy primarily achieves its carbon dioxide emission reduction effect by promoting energy structure transformation, while the carbon dioxide emission reduction effect from upgrading industrial institutions and technological progress is insignificant. By region, the expansion of the digital economy in eastern China has a large carbon dioxide emission reduction effect but not in central and western China. The policy implication of this paper is that curbing new carbon dioxide emissions caused by digital infrastructure construction using the digital economy to accelerate energy structure transformation and accelerating digital economy development in central and western China can be effective policy options for the Chinese government to achieve the goal of carbon dioxide emission reduction.

Suggested Citation

  • Jingwei Sun & Jingzhu Chen, 2023. "Digital Economy, Energy Structure Transformation, and Regional Carbon Dioxide Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:11:p:8557-:d:1155134
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8557/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8557/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Barrett, Mark & Lowe, Robert & Oreszczyn, Tadj & Steadman, Philip, 2008. "How to support growth with less energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 4592-4599, December.
    2. Zhou, Xiaoyong & Zhou, Dequn & Wang, Qunwei & Su, Bin, 2019. "How information and communication technology drives carbon emissions: A sector-level analysis for China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 380-392.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhongwei Zhu & Tingyu Qian & Lei Liu, 2023. "Evolutionary Simulation of Carbon-Neutral Behavior of Urban Citizens in a “Follow–Drive” Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-28, July.
    2. Jianing Pang & Yimeng Zhang & Fangyi Jiao, 2023. "The Impact of the Digital Economy on Transformation and Upgrading of Industrial Structure: A Perspective Based on the “Poverty Trap”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-20, October.
    3. Zhen Yu & Weidong Li & Hongyan Duan, 2023. "New Energy Technology Innovation and Industry Carbon Emission Reduction Based on the Perspective of Unbalanced Regional Economic Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-22, November.

    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. Rongwu Zhang & Wenqiang Fu & Yingxu Kuang, 2022. "Can Digital Economy Promote Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction in Heavily Polluting Enterprises? Empirical Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-21, August.
    2. Zihanxin Li & Nuoyan Li & Huwei Wen, 2021. "Digital Economy and Environmental Quality: Evidence from 217 Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-20, July.
    3. Jinghan Chen & Wen Zhou & Hongtao Yang, 2019. "Is Embodied Energy a Better Starting Point for Solving Energy Security Issues?—Based on an Overview of Embodied Energy-Related Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-22, August.
    4. Wang, Ke-Liang & Sun, Ting-Ting & Xu, Ru-Yu & Miao, Zhuang & Cheng, Yun-He, 2022. "How does internet development promote urban green innovation efficiency? Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    5. Lund, Henrik & Mathiesen, Brian Vad, 2012. "The role of Carbon Capture and Storage in a future sustainable energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 469-476.
    6. Lund, Henrik & Hvelplund, Frede, 2012. "The economic crisis and sustainable development: The design of job creation strategies by use of concrete institutional economics," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 192-200.
    7. Chris Belmert Milindi & Roula Inglesi-Lotz, 2023. "Impact of technological progress on carbon emissions in different country income groups," Energy & Environment, , vol. 34(5), pages 1348-1382, August.
    8. Shyu, Chian-Woei, 2014. "Development of Taiwanese government’s climate policy after the Kyoto protocol: Applying policy network theory as an analytical framework," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 334-346.
    9. Sun, Hongye & Kim, Giseung, 2021. "The composite impact of ICT industry on lowering carbon intensity: From the perspective of regional heterogeneity," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    10. Geng Peng & Yixuan Tang & Kaiyou Tian, 2023. "Understanding the Nonlinear Impact of Information and Communication Technology on Carbon Emissions in the Logistics Industry of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-22, September.
    11. Junjun Tang & Xing Zhao, 2023. "Does the new digital infrastructure improve total factor productivity?," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(4), pages 895-916, October.
    12. de Castro, Carlos & Miguel, Luis Javier & Mediavilla, Margarita, 2009. "The role of non conventional oil in the attenuation of peak oil," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1825-1833, May.
    13. Pedregal, D.J. & Dejuán, O. & Gómez, N. & Tobarra, M.A., 2009. "Modelling demand for crude oil products in Spain," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4417-4427, November.
    14. Henrique Oliveira & Víctor Moutinho, 2021. "Renewable Energy, Economic Growth and Economic Development Nexus: A Bibliometric Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-28, July.
    15. Wenxiang Peng & Yutao Lei & Xuan Zhang, 2023. "Analysis of China’s High-Carbon Manufacturing Industry’s Carbon Emissions in the Digital Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-35, October.
    16. Huang, Yongming & Zhang, Yanan, 2023. "Digitalization, positioning in global value chain and carbon emissions embodied in exports: Evidence from global manufacturing production-based emissions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    17. Chen, Zhenni & Liu, Xi & Li, Jianglong, 2022. "Identifying channels of environmental impacts of transport sector through sectoral linkage analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    18. Marta Gangolells & Miquel Casals & Marcel Macarulla & Núria Forcada, 2021. "Exploring the Potential of a Gamified Approach to Reduce Energy Use and Carbon Emissions in the Household Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-18, March.
    19. Lina Karabetyan, 2023. "Impact of Entrepreneurial Activity and ICT Development on Sustainable Development: Evidence from High-Income Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-14, March.
    20. Ke-Liang Wang & Rui-Rui Zhu & Yun-He Cheng, 2022. "Does the Development of Digital Finance Contribute to Haze Pollution Control? Evidence from China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-21, April.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:11:p:8557-:d:1155134. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.