Can new infrastructure construction facilitate low-carbon energy transition? A quasi-natural experiment based on China’s smart city pilots

Di Wang (), Wei Dou () and Jiajun Ning ()
Additional contact information
Di Wang: Peking University
Wei Dou: Beijing Normal University
Jiajun Ning: Beijing Normal University

Economic Change and Restructuring, 2025, vol. 58, issue 2, No 11, 35 pages

Abstract: Abstract As humanity enters the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, new infrastructure construction (NIC) is emerging as a critical support and material foundation for the latest wave of technological and industrial transformations. Beyond fostering regional innovation and economic growth, it may also significantly impact the energy low-carbon transition (ELT) Building on the theoretical foundations linking NIC and ELT, this study treats China’s smart city pilot policy as a quasi-natural experiment. Using a difference-in-differences model and panel data from 215 Chinese cities spanning 2006–2021, the study empirically examines the impact of NIC on the ELT and its underlying mechanisms. The findings reveal that NIC significantly reduces energy intensity while enhancing energy efficiency and increasing the proportion of clean energy use. These results remain robust after accounting for potential endogeneity and conducting a series of robustness checks. The primary mechanisms driving these effects are identified as industrial upgrading, technological advancement, and economic agglomeration. Heterogeneity analysis further indicates that the impact of NIC on the ELT varies significantly across regions, city sizes, and resource endowments. The conclusions of this study provide empirical evidence and policy recommendations for understanding how to fully leverage the innovation-driven potential of NIC. They offer insights into building digitalized and intelligent urban integrated energy systems, facilitating the ELT, and promoting high-quality urban development.

Keywords: New infrastructure construction; Smart city pilot; Energy low-carbon transition; Difference-in-differences model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10644-025-09870-7 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:ecopln:v:58:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s10644-025-09870-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... nt/journal/10644/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10644-025-09870-7

Access Statistics for this article

Economic Change and Restructuring is currently edited by George Hondroyiannis

More articles in Economic Change and Restructuring from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().