The Impact of China's Digital Economy Development on Carbon Emissions - Taking 31 Key Cities as Evidence

Sammanfattning: Environmental deterioration led by global warming is accelerating, and low-carbon development has become a global consensus. China, as the world's largest developing country, has also responded to low-carbon development and proposed a "30.60" dual-carbon target aimed at reducing carbon emissions. At the same time, the third industrial revolution oriented by information and communication technology (ICT) is taking place. Driven by new technologies such as the Internet and big data, the digital economy has become an important engine for high-quality economic development in China. However, while the digital economy promotes high-quality economic development, can it also promote China's low-carbon development? Based on the panel data of 31 key cities in China from 2011 to 2019, this paper explores the impact of digital economy development on carbon emissions through corresponding econometric models, and analyzes its potential mechanism based on the results. The results show that: First, there is a linear relationship between the digital economy development and carbon emissions of these 31 key cities in China, and digital economy development can restrain carbon emissions. Second, the results of this study are inconsistent with the existing research results, the reason may be the differences in model measurement scale and sample characteristics, and indirectly shows that there are differences in the level of digital economy development among Chinese cities. Third, the potential mechanism behind this relationship may be that digital economy development suppresses carbon emissions by improving innovation efficiency, promoting high-quality economic development, influencing government interventions, and applying ICT to improve energy efficiency or reduce energy consumption. Based on the above conclusions, this study draws the following practical implications: first, improve the speed and quality of digital economy development; second, improve the cultivation of digital talents; third, optimize the performance appraisal index system; fourth, formulate a digital economy development strategy that is compatible with regional differences, so as to reduce carbon emissions.