Transforming Trade and Environment: Digital Trade's Impact on Carbon Emissions in the European Union

Meng Cai

Journal of International Development, 2025, vol. 37, issue 2, 570-583

Abstract: The rapid expansion of digital trade is reshaping global economies, offering promising opportunities to mitigate carbon emissions. This study investigates the impact of digital trade on carbon emissions across 27 European Union countries from 2009 to 2023, presenting new insights into the environmental benefits of digital trade. The empirical findings reveal that digital trade significantly reduces emissions by optimizing industrial structure, promoting technological innovation and enhancing human capital. The heterogeneity analysis shows that this reduction effect is more pronounced in Northern, Western and Central Europe, where digital infrastructure and regulatory support may be more robust, and it is also stronger in highly innovative countries compared to less innovative ones. These results underscore the potential of digital trade as a driver of sustainable economic growth, providing valuable insights for policymakers aiming to leverage digitalization to enhance environmental sustainability, align with climate targets and foster a more efficient, low‐carbon economy.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3977

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:wly:jintdv:v:37:y:2025:i:2:p:570-583

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Development is currently edited by Paul Mosley and Hazel Johnson

More articles in Journal of International Development from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().