Impact of Digital Economy on the Upgrading of Energy Consumption Structure: Evidence from Mainland China

The digital economy is fundamentally altering human productivity and lifestyles, gradually becoming a new engine that drives energy technology transformation and optimizes the energy consumption structure. This paper examines the impact of the digital economy on upgrading the energy consumption structure using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2013 to 2019. The empirical findings indicate that the digital economy’s development can help to improve energy consumption structure, and this impact can have a threshold effect. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that upgrading the energy consumption structure affected by the digital economy is more significant in lower digital divide regions, the eastern and central regions, and provinces with high economic development levels. Moreover, the findings of a mechanism analysis demonstrate that the digital economy primarily influences green technology innovation, and government environmental regulation affects the major upgrades of the energy consumption structure.