Digital governance and environmental Sustainability: The impact of smart cities on corporate carbon footprints

Smart cities are an important driving force for the coordinated high-quality development of the environment and economy. Starting from factor agglomeration theory, financing constraints theory, and stakeholder theory, this study combines macro-level digital governance with micro-level corporate decision-making, and uses a difference-in-differences (DID) model to examine the impact of smart city construction (SCC) on corporate carbon emissions (CCE). The research results show that SCC effectively reduces the carbon emissions of enterprises. Mechanism analysis confirms that the carbon emission reduction (CER) path of SCC lies in the dual effects of resource allocation and target synergy, which can alleviate corporate financing constraints and improve ESG performance to achieve CER effect. Heterogeneity results indicate that the CER effect of SCC varies significantly depending on the stage, nature, location, and factor concentration of the corporate. This study enriches and expands the micro-climate governance research framework of SCC, providing practical support for enterprises to actively use digital governance to promote low-carbon transformation.