DOES THE DIGITAL ECONOMY CHANGE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ECONOMIC GROWTH AND CARBON EMISSIONS? EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM 278 CITIES IN CHINA

Jiaojiao Fan, Xiaoya Gao (), Lin Sun and Meng Qin
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Jiaojiao Fan: School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, China†Institute for Industrial System Modernization, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, China
Xiaoya Gao: School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, China
Lin Sun: School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, China†Institute for Industrial System Modernization, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, China
Meng Qin: ��School of Marxism, Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266071, China§Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Doctoral School of Economics and Business Administration, West University of Timisoara, Timisoara, 300115, Romania¶Adnan Kassar School of Business, Lebanese American University, Beirut, 11020, Lebanon

Climate Change Economics (CCE), 2025, vol. 16, issue 04, 1-19

Abstract: The rise of the digital economy has had widespread and profound impacts on the economy and society. Extensive literature exists on digital economy and carbon emissions. However, there is a lack of literature focusing on the impact of the digital economy on the relationship between economic development and carbon emissions. This paper examines whether the digital economy has changed the relationship between economic growth and carbon emissions using panel and spatial econometric modeling. Using a panel dataset of 278 prefecture-level cities in China for the period from 2011 to 2019, the results show that there is a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and carbon emissions, which is consistent with the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) model. Moreover, the digital economy brings the turning point forward. In terms of spatial decomposition effects, both direct and indirect effects of economic growth on carbon emissions are significant, suggesting that economic growth has a positive impact on carbon emissions both in local cities and in neighboring areas. Overall, these findings provide valuable policy insights for promoting the synergistic development of the digital economy and accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Keywords: Carbon emissions; digital economy; economic growth; spatial econometric approach (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O1 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1142/S2010007823400092

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