94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Economics and Management
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1523560
This article is part of the Research Topic Advancing Carbon Reduction and Pollution Control Policies Management: Theoretical, Application, and Future Impacts View all 31 articles
Research on the Carbon Emissions Reduction Effects of China's Digital Economy: Moderating Role of the National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone Policy
Provisionally accepted- 1 School of Economics, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
- 2 Institute of Marine Development, Ocean University of China, Qindao, Shandong Province, China
The rapid growth of the digital economy brings significant potential to accomplish the "dual carbon" objectives in both China and the global economy. Fully considering how digital economy lowers emissions of carbon dioxide is critical for promoting high-quality economic growth. This study is based on data from 30 provincial-level samples in China between 2012 and 2022. Using a dual fixed-effects model and a mediation effect model, it systematically analyzes the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions from multiple dimensions of the "production side" in the social reproduction process, including scale effects, structural effects, and technological effects. At the same time, a moderating effect model is used to explore the moderating role of the National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone (NBDCPZ) policy in the carbon reduction effects of the digital economy. According to the findings of this paper: 1) Digital economy has a key role in lowering carbon emissions. The heterogeneity analysis shows that it is more effective in translating the digital economy's influence for lowering carbon emissions in eastern regions, and the reduction effort is more obvious in regions with abundant energy resources and higher digital economic development.2) On the production-side, the mediating effects caused by technological progress and structural upgrading decrease emissions of carbon, while the mediating effects of scale expansion promote carbon emissions. The sum of former two effects outweigh the latter. 3) The moderation effect test reveals that the NBDCPZ policy further enhances the prohibitive influence of the digital economy on emissions. As nations all around the world placing a greater emphasis on sustainable development, this research provides understanding about how the digital economy achieves emission reduction targets.
Keywords: digital economy, carbon emissions, Production-side, National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone policy, Mediating effect, Moderating effect
Received: 06 Nov 2024; Accepted: 19 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xu and Wan. 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:
Weicheng Xu, School of Economics, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 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.