长江经济带数字经济对碳排放的影响效应研究——基于产业结构升级的中介效应

Study on the Influence Effect of Digital Economy on Carbon Emission in the Yangtze River Economic Belt—Based on the Mediating Effect of Industrial Structure Upgrading

摘要: 数字经济作为我国经济发展中最为活跃的领域，是助推我国经济高质量发展的重要引擎。数字经济在推动经济创新发展的同时，对低碳发展会产生怎样的影响。本文以长江经济带90个地级市的数据为研究样本，探究长江经济带数字经济对碳排放的影响效应。实证结果表明，长江经济带数字经济对碳排放的影响存在倒U型非线性关系，并且数字经济会通过产业结构升级间接作用于碳排放，在上中下游地区也存在异质性。基于以上结论，长江经济带在发展数字经济时应加强在数字经济与绿色低碳发展方面的合作与协调，共同推动区域绿色低碳转型，同时也应注重实施差异化的政策引导，促进碳减排目标的实现。

Abstract: The digital economy, as the most active area in China’s economic development, is an important engine for fuelling the high-quality development of China’s economy. What impact will the digital economy have on low carbon development while promoting economic innovation and development. This paper takes the data of 90 prefecture-level cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt as a research sample to explore the effect of digital economy on carbon emissions in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. The empirical results show that there is an inverted U-shaped non-linear relationship between the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and that the digital economy will have an indirect effect on carbon emissions through the industrial structure upgrading, and there is also heterogeneity in the upstream, midstream and downstream regions. Based on the above conclusions, the Yangtze River Economic Belt should strengthen the cooperation and coordination between the digital economy and green low-carbon development when developing the digital economy, and jointly promote the regional green low-carbon transformation, and also focus on the implementation of differentiated policy guidance to promote the achievement of carbon emission reduction goals.