IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i16p7234-d1721616.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of Digitalization on Carbon Emissions in Guangdong’s Manufacturing Sector: An Input–Output Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Jiao Jingren

    (Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8572, Japan)

  • Helmut Yabar

    (Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305–8572, Japan)

  • Takeshi Mizunoya

    (Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305–8572, Japan)

Abstract

As global pressure to reduce emissions intensifies, China is increasingly turning to digital technologies to drive sustainable industrial development, aiming to boost production while keeping carbon emissions in check. This study takes a micro-level approach by dividing the industry into 17 sectors and applying an environmentally-extended input–output (EEIO) model combined with structural decomposition analysis (SDA) to quantify the impact of digital transformation on carbon emissions across sectors. This study used input–output data from 2012 and 2017. The results indicate that (1) technological improvements driven by digitalization play a key role in reducing industrial carbon emissions, and (2) while high-carbon sectors show substantial emission reductions due to digital transformation, industries such as textiles—where digital adoption is more challenging—exhibit only limited improvements. These findings underscore the need to further advance technological upgrading and transformation in less digitally integrated sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiao Jingren & Helmut Yabar & Takeshi Mizunoya, 2025. "Impact of Digitalization on Carbon Emissions in Guangdong’s Manufacturing Sector: An Input–Output Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-15, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:16:p:7234-:d:1721616
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/16/7234/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/16/7234/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:17:y:2025:i:16:p:7234-:d:1721616. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.