Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Jun 2;19(11):6800.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19116800.

Can the Digital Economy Facilitate Carbon Emissions Decoupling? An Empirical Study Based on Provincial Data in China

Kaiming Zhong  1 , Hongyan Fu  2 , Tinghui Li  1
Affiliations
Review

Can the Digital Economy Facilitate Carbon Emissions Decoupling? An Empirical Study Based on Provincial Data in China

Kaiming Zhong et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The digital economy plays a dual role in the process of global carbon emissions decoupling; for this reason, its overall impact direction and mechanism are worth discussing. This paper attempts to answer the question of the role of the digital economy, based on a review of the existing literature. By constructing a panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model, this paper empirically tests the effect of the digital economy on carbon emissions decoupling, based on panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2019. In order to study the impact mechanism of the digital economy on carbon emissions decoupling, the mediating effect of industrial structure optimization is analyzed through a mediating effect model; the moderating effect is also explored by analyzing the network centrality characteristics of the digital economy. The core-periphery analysis method is adopted to group the samples to test the impact heterogeneity of the digital economy on carbon emissions decoupling. Based on this empirical analysis, the following conclusions are drawn. First, the digital economy has a promoting effect on carbon emissions decoupling, but this effect gradually weakens with the development of the digital economy. Second, the digital economy can promote carbon emissions decoupling through industrial structure optimization, and network centrality has a positive moderating effect on this mechanism. Third, heterogeneity exists in the promoting effect of the digital economy on carbon emissions decoupling, which is reflected in the different intensities of the promotion effect between the core nodes and the peripheral nodes in the network; the attenuation range of the promotion effect is also different when the regime switches.

Keywords: PSTR model; carbon emissions decoupling; digital economy; social network analysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Digital economy and FCO2.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) The transition function; (b) Digital economy and decoupling coefficient.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The mechanism of the digital economy affecting carbon emissions decoupling.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. G20 G20 Digital Economy Development and Cooperation Initiative. [(accessed on 22 April 2022)]. Available online: http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/2016/160905-digital.html.
    1. Agency I.E. Digitalization and Energy. Beijing Science Press; Beijing, China: 2019.
    1. Telecompaper Digital Technologies Could Cut Up to 20% Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions. [(accessed on 22 April 2022)]. Available online: https://www.telecompaper.com/news/digital-technologies-could-cut-up-to-2....
    1. Mikayilov J.I., Hasanov F.J., Galeotti M. Decoupling of CO2 emissions and GDP: A time-varying cointegration approach. Ecol. Indic. 2018;95:615–628. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.07.051. - DOI
    1. Zhao X., Zhang X., Shao S. Decoupling CO2 emissions and industrial growth in China over 1993–2013: The role of investment. Energy Econ. 2016;60:275–292. doi: 10.1016/j.eneco.2016.10.008. - DOI

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources