 Path to environmental justice: How does the digital economy narrow environmental inequality?Senmiao Yang, Xiaohui He, Qingzhe Jiang and Jianda Wang Energy, 2025, vol. 322, issue C Abstract: Environmental equity plays a crucial role in promoting social equity and actualizing sustainable development; it also prescribes an avenue to achieve environmental justice. Based on county-level PM2.5 grid data and provincial panel data in China from 2006 to 2019, this paper empirically explores the digital economy-environmental inequality nexus, further analyzing the internal mechanism and asymmetry. Findings postulate that: (1) the digital economy (DE) can mitigate environmental inequality in China; (2) the DE indirectly affects environmental inequality by promoting technological innovation, enhancing infrastructure construction, and strengthening environmental regulation; and (3) the negative impact of the DE appears more prominently in areas in northern China, areas with high levels of environmental inequality, and areas with low economic development. We also conclude with policy recommendations to support China in achieving environmental justice. Keywords: Environmental inequality; Digital economy; Technological innovation; Infrastructure construction; Environmental regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:322:y:2025:i:c:s036054422501240x DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.135598 Access Statistics for this article Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser More articles in Energy from Elsevier |
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