IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v18y2026i12p6269-d1970211.html

Decarbonization Through Data: The Impact of Public Data Openness on Regional Carbon Emissions

Author

Listed:
  • Zeye Zhang

    (Department of Economics, Zhejiang Institute of Administration, Hangzhou 311121, China)

  • Jinfang Wang

    (School of Economics and Management, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China)

Abstract

Utilizing the progressive rollout of public data open platforms as a quasi-natural experiment, this study applies a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) method to investigate the effect of public data openness on regional carbon emissions. The empirical analysis demonstrates a significant decarbonization effect induced by public data openness, and this conclusion survives a battery of robustness tests. Mechanism analyses confirm that the decarbonization effect of public data openness is driven by enhanced industrial upgrading, green technological innovation, green financial development, and environmental regulation. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that the decarbonization effect is statistically significant mainly in Central China, and in provinces characterized by high marketization and advanced digital infrastructure. Furthermore, public data openness demonstrates a substantial capacity for abating environmental pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and dust, thereby validating a synergistic governance effect. Overall, this study demonstrates the positive role of public data openness in reducing regional carbon emissions, thereby theoretically broadening the literature on its environmental consequences while expanding practical pathways for decarbonization.

Suggested Citation

  • Zeye Zhang & Jinfang Wang, 2026. "Decarbonization Through Data: The Impact of Public Data Openness on Regional Carbon Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-29, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:18:y:2026:i:12:p:6269-:d:1970211
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/18/12/6269/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/18/12/6269/
    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:18:y:2026:i:12:p:6269-:d:1970211. 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 The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (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.