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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Economics and Management
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1417924

Has the development of the digital economy raised or lowered the level of carbon emissions in cities?-Evidence from China

Provisionally accepted
Mingxuan Liu Mingxuan Liu *
  • Renmin University of China, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This paper studies the impact of digital economy development on carbon emissions, which is a hot topic in the field of environmental economics. This topic is within the scope of the Frontiers in Environmental Science and is particularly in line with the theme of Environmental Economics and Management section in the journal.Firstly, this paper constructs the Digital Economy Development Index and its variable indicators to measure the development of the digital economy. Secondly, this paper uses urban panel data to reveal the impact of digital economy development on carbon emissions, and further adopts IV method to deal with endogeneity issues. Thirdly, this paper performs the heterogeneity analyses depending on the characteristics of the city.The results can provide a basis for formulating differentiated policies. Fourthly, this paper further explores the mechanism by which the digital economy affects carbon peaking.The results show that the digital economy may influence carbon peaking through upgrading of the industrial structure, technical innovation, and energy consumption.

    Keywords: digital economy development, carbon emissions, Carbon peaking, Industrial structure, Technical innovation, energy consumption JEL classification: O13; O33

    Received: 15 Apr 2024; Accepted: 07 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Mingxuan Liu, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.