Is smart carbon emission reduction justified in China? Evidence from national big data comprehensive pilot zones

The intelligent revolution caused by new digital technologies has provided new impetus to reduce carbon emissions. However, the current research on new digital technologies and carbon emissions is still in its infancy and lacks empirical conclusions between them. Therefore, this paper studies the impact of new digital technologies on carbon emissions, identifies its mechanism, and analyzes the regional heterogeneity of its effects. This research treats the National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zones pilot in China as a quasi-natural experiment for the development of new digital technologies along with city-level data covering from 2011 to 2019 to conduct a staggered difference-in-difference (DID) model analysis. We find that new digital technologies significantly reduce carbon emissions. This conclusion is still valid after a series of robustness tests such as heterogeneity treatment effect analysis, ex-ante trend test, spillover effect test, and placebo test. Additionally, new digital technologies can reduce carbon emissions by promoting the transformation of industrial structure, improving the level of green technology innovation, and promoting industrial agglomeration. At the same time, the heterogeneity analysis shows that new digital technologies' carbon emission reduction effect is more evident in non-western regions, southern regions, and large cities. To expand the carbon emission reduction effect of new digital technologies, the government should promote the development and application of new digital technologies, and implement differentiated policies based on regional characteristics.