Can Digital Transformation Reduce Enterprise Carbon Intensity? An Empirical Analysis of Chinese Manufacturers

Yu Chen, Shuangshuang Liu, Yanqiu Xiao () and Qian Zhou ()
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Yu Chen: School of Economics and Management, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, Science Avenue 136, Zhengzhou 450001, China
Shuangshuang Liu: School of Economics and Management, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, Science Avenue 136, Zhengzhou 450001, China
Yanqiu Xiao: College of Electrical and Information Engineering, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, Science Avenue 136, Zhengzhou 450001, China
Qian Zhou: School of Economics, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Nanhu Avenue 182, Wuhan 430073, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 12, 1-19

Abstract: Reducing the carbon intensity of enterprises will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, mitigate the negative impacts of global climate change, and protect the ecological environment. To this end, based on the data of A-share listed companies in China’s manufacturing industry from 2012 to 2022, the paper calculates the carbon emission intensity of enterprises, and at the same time, with the help of crawler technology, it crawls the keywords of digital transformation (DT) in the annual reports of the listed companies, portrays the intensity of DT of enterprises, and examines the impact of the level of digitization of enterprises on the carbon intensity of enterprises, along with the heterogeneous role and the mechanism of the role of the level of digitization of enterprises. The results of the study show that the digital revolution notably reduces the carbon emission intensity of enterprises. The inhibitory effect of DT is more significant for non-state-owned firms, industries with high market concentration, and regions with low environmental regulations. The findings of the mechanism test show that DT decreases the intensity of corporate carbon emissions by encouraging green innovation, with substantive green innovation being the main transmission channel behind strategic green innovation.

Keywords: corporate carbon emission intensity; digital transformation; substantive green innovation; strategic green innovation; manufacturing industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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