IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jknowl/v16y2025i1d10.1007_s13132-024-02163-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Enhancing Urban Sustainability Through E-Commerce Transformation: Insights on Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction

Author

Listed:
  • Yan Zhang

    (Xinyang Agriculture and Forestry University)

  • Kan Lu

    (Jingzhou University)

  • Hong Chen

    (University of Science and Technology of China
    Yangtze University)

Abstract

Amid escalating global concerns over environmental sustainability and carbon neutrality, the role of technological innovation, particularly e-commerce transformation, in fostering energy conservation and emission reduction within urban landscapes has garnered substantial attention. This study leverages a quasi-natural experiment involving the establishment of national e-commerce demonstration cities to explore the implications of urban e-commerce transformation for energy saving and emission curtailment. Utilizing a multi-temporal double-difference (DID) method, our findings elucidate a significant negative correlation between e-commerce transformation and carbon emission intensity, with emission reductions manifesting from the second year of policy implementation onward. The research highlights the differential impacts of e-commerce transformation across various city types, with pronounced benefits observed in provincial capitals, non-resource-dependent cities, and those with higher levels of digital economic development and innovation capacity. Mechanistic analysis reveals that the primary channel through which e-commerce transformation facilitates emission reduction is through a decrease in energy intensity, serving as a critical mediator in the process. This study contributes to the discourse on the knowledge economy by underscoring the potential of digital innovation and e-commerce as pivotal drivers of environmental sustainability and economic transformation. It calls for policies that further harness the power of digital transformation to achieve broader societal goals of energy conservation and emission reduction, thereby advancing the knowledge economy towards sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Yan Zhang & Kan Lu & Hong Chen, 2025. "Enhancing Urban Sustainability Through E-Commerce Transformation: Insights on Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 16(1), pages 4146-4160, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jknowl:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s13132-024-02163-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s13132-024-02163-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13132-024-02163-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13132-024-02163-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Greenstone & Rema Hanna, 2014. "Environmental Regulations, Air and Water Pollution, and Infant Mortality in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 3038-3072, October.
    2. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2004. "Micro-foundations of urban agglomeration economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 48, pages 2063-2117, Elsevier.
    3. Shouwu Jing & Feijie Wu & Enyi Shi & Xinhui Wu & Minzhe Du, 2023. "Does the Digital Economy Promote the Reduction of Urban Carbon Emission Intensity?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-22, February.
    4. Deepak Sivaraman & Sergio Pacca & Kimberly Mueller & Jessica Lin, 2007. "Comparative Energy, Environmental, and Economic Analysis of Traditional and E‐commerce DVD Rental Networks," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 11(3), pages 77-91, July.
    5. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    6. Gracceva, Francesco & Zeniewski, Peter, 2014. "A systemic approach to assessing energy security in a low-carbon EU energy system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 335-348.
    7. Jie Yu & Xiao Han & Baozhen Chen & Jinzheng Ren, 2020. "Estimating the Impact of Poverty Alleviation Microcredit on the Income of Poor Households Using the Propensity Score Matching Method: Evidence from China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-19, July.
    8. Sadorsky, Perry, 2014. "The effect of urbanization on CO2 emissions in emerging economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 147-153.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Wang, Lisha & Pan, Minjie & Qian, Xinlei & Lv, Kangjuan, 2025. "Do specialized courts matter? Environmental judiciary and corporate emissions in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    2. Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt & Stephen J. Redding & Daniel M. Sturm & Nikolaus Wolf, 2015. "The Economics of Density: Evidence From the Berlin Wall," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2127-2189, November.
    3. Hsu, Wen-Tai & Lu, Yi & Luo, Xuan & Zhu, Lianming, 2023. "Foreign direct investment and industrial agglomeration: Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 610-639.
    4. Fernando Broner & Paula Bustos & Vasco Carvalho, 2011. "Sources of comparative advantage in polluting industries," Economics Working Papers 1331, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Dec 2019.
    5. Li, Shanjun & Liu, Yanyan & Purevjav, Avralt-Od & Yang, Lin, 2019. "Does subway expansion improve air quality?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 213-235.
    6. Peter H Egger & Marko Koethenbuerger & Gabriel Loumeau, 2022. "Local border reforms and economic activity," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 81-102.
    7. Olexiy Kyrychenko, 2021. "Environmental Regulations, Air Pollution, and Infant Mortality in India: A Reexamination," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp703, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    8. Ball, Alastair, 2014. "Air pollution, foetal mortality, and long-term health: Evidence from the Great London Smog," MPRA Paper 63229, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 25 Mar 2015.
    9. Moretti, Enrico & Wilson, Daniel J., 2014. "State incentives for innovation, star scientists and jobs: Evidence from biotech," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 20-38.
    10. Wang, Yangjie & Chen, Xiaohong & Ren, Shenggang, 2019. "Clean energy adoption and maternal health: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    11. Berger, Thor & Enflo, Kerstin, 2017. "Locomotives of local growth: The short- and long-term impact of railroads in Sweden," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 124-138.
    12. Xu, Gang & Wang, Xue & Wang, Ruiting & Yano, Go & Zou, Rong, 2021. "Anti-corruption, safety compliance and coal mine deaths: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 458-488.
    13. Chen, Siyu & Guo, Chongshan & Huang, Xinfei, 2018. "Air Pollution, Student Health, and School Absences: Evidence from China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 465-497.
    14. Olexiy Kyrychenko, 2021. "The Impact of the Crisis-inducted Reduction in Air Pollution on Infant Mortality in India: A Policy Perspective," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp702, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    15. Chen, Zhao & Kahn, Matthew E. & Liu, Yu & Wang, Zhi, 2018. "The consequences of spatially differentiated water pollution regulation in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 468-485.
    16. Bounie, David & Camara, Youssouf, 2020. "Card-sales response to merchant contactless payment acceptance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    17. Charris, Carlos & Branco, Danyelle & Carrillo, Bladimir, 2024. "Economic shocks and infant health: Evidence from a trade reform in Brazil," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    18. Ying Deng & Qianqian Yue & Xin Zhao, 2024. "What Does Air Quality Information Disclosure Deliver and to Whom? Evidence from the Ambient Air Quality Standard (2012) Program in China," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 87(11), pages 2859-2887, November.
    19. Churchill, Brandyn F. & Srivastava, Sparshi, 2025. "Effects of environmental exposures on weight-related health behaviors and outcomes," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    20. Lai, Wangyang, 2017. "Pesticide use and health outcomes: Evidence from agricultural water pollution in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 93-120.

    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:spr:jknowl:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s13132-024-02163-w. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.