Internet development, information availability, and Chinese enterprises' cooperative green technology innovation.

Cooperative green technology innovation is potentially the answer to the lack of motivation for independent green innovation, which can effectively alleviate many difficulties faced by enterprises engaging in independent green innovation. Internet development provides new opportunities to stimulate innovative cooperation of enterprises. However, little literature has studied the impact of Internet development on enterprises' cooperative green technology innovation. Based on the data of Chinese A-share 3284 listed companies from 2010 to 2019, this paper uses a panel two-way fixed effects model to assess the effect of Internet development on enterprises' cooperative green innovation. The findings are: (1) Internet development significantly drives firms' collaborative green innovation behavior. The result remains robust even after performing a series of robust tests. (2) The Internet empowers green innovation cooperation among firms by improving information availability, including market information availability and technical information availability. (3) The heterogeneous results show enterprises use the Internet to accomplish high-quality collaborative green innovation. Internet development is more helpful in encouraging the cooperative green innovation of enterprises located in central cities and state-owned enterprises. This study provides novel and targeted policy implications to empower enterprises' green innovation cooperation and drive sustainable economic development through Internet development.

Can internet development improve carbon emission efficiency for manufacturing? The role of market integration.

Improving carbon emission efficiency of manufacturing is important for promoting low-carbon development and achieving harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. In this study, we use the Global-MinDS model to measure the carbon emission efficiency of China's provincial manufacturing from 2011 to 2020. To do so, we construct a mathematical model to analyze the mechanism of the interaction among internet development, market integration, and carbon emission efficiency of manufacturing. Then, we empirically examine the carbon emission reduction effect of internet development using the Bartik instrument variable method and verify the significance of market integration. Our results show that internet development can significantly improve the carbon emission efficiency of manufacturing, promoting manufacturing low-carbon transformation. Carbon emission reduction effect of internet development is characterized by heterogeneity in market integration, environmental regulation, and policy intensity. This means that the impact of internet development is more pronounced in lower integration regions, higher environmental regulation intensity and in big data comprehensive experimental zone. Intermediate mechanism tests show that internet development can promote market integration by reducing external transaction costs, so as to play a carbon emission reduction effect in the market mechanism. Our study provides empirical evidence for the carbon emission reduction effect of the digital economy and offers valuable references for effectively promoting the low-carbon transformation of manufacturing in China from the perspective of unified market.

Influence mechanism of industrial agglomeration on carbon emission intensity-a perspective on borrowing performance.

Under the background of urban connectivity, whether there are similarities and differences in the impacts of local industrial agglomeration and inter-city industrial agglomeration borrowing performance on carbon emission intensity(CI), and how cities can fully utilize the external force-borrowing performance to reduce local CI, these issues are of great significance for the cost saving and efficiency enhancement in the process of carbon emission (CE) reduction. Based on panel data of 280 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2020, the panel dual fixed-effect model, instrumental variable method, and adjustment effect model were used to analyze the impacts of the manufacturing agglomeration (MA), producer service agglomeration (PA), and the collaborative agglomeration (CA) on the CI from the perspective of individual cities and the urban system. The results showed that the influence of MA on CI presents a significant inverted U-shaped relationship, PA significantly reduces CI, and the CA of the two industries increases CI. Further analysis showed that the borrowing MA performance improves CI, especially in newer industrial-based cities, non-resource-based cities, and medium and big cities; the borrowing PA performance reduces CI, especially in old industrial-based cities, non-resource-based cities, and large cities; and the borrowing CA performance has no significant effect on CI. In addition, the development of the Internet strengthens the influence of borrowing performance in MA and PA on CI.

Fostering sustainability: unveiling the impact of Internet development on carbon emissions in China.

The rapid development of the Internet has significantly impacted various socio-economic activities. Using Chinese Industrial Enterprise database and Industrial Enterprise Pollution database, this research examines the impact and mechanisms of Internet development on CO2 emissions. The key findings are as follows: (1) Internet development has substantially reduced the CO2 intensity of enterprises, and this conclusion remains robust even after performing a series of robustness analyses. (2) The major mechanisms responsible for the reduction in CO2 emissions are productivity improvement, technological innovation, and energy structure adjustment. (3) The analysis of heterogeneity reveals that the effect of Internet development on CO2 reduction is more pronounced in coastal areas, areas with a high share of secondary industry, low-carbon industries, clean industries, small-scale enterprises, and export enterprises. This study provides empirical evidence supporting China's "Internet+" strategy and its progress towards achieving the "Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Goals."

How does internet development drive the sustainable economic growth of China? Evidence from internal-structural perspective of green total-factor productivity.

Clarifying internal-structural transmission paths of internet development on China's green total-factor productivity (GTFP) is of great significance for understanding China's economic growth in the era of digital transition. In this paper, GTFP is decomposed by three-hierarchy meta-frontier DEA into technology, industrial structural, regional balance development, scale, and management efficiencies based on China's provincial data. Then, dynamic GMM models are applied to investigate the internal-structural effect of internet development on GTFP. The results illustrate that internet development significantly improves GTFP by promoting technology, optimizing industrial structural, and advancing scale efficiencies. But it inhibits regional balance development and management efficiencies. Based on the results, this study offers new insights and valuable policy implications for China to promote sustainable economic growth.

Impact of Internet development on carbon emission efficiency under carbon neutral target: evidence from global 58 economies.

With the introduction of economy carbon neutral target policies one after another worldwide, the carbon emission reduction actions of economies around the world have become a hot topic attracting international attention. Meanwhile, the role of the Internet in energy saving and emissions reduction in economies around the world is also becoming more prominent. However, for now, there is still a lack of in-depth research on the impact and role relationship between Internet development and global economy carbon emission efficiency. Therefore, based on the availability of data, this study used the Malmquist index based on game intersection to measure and analyze carbon emission efficiency based on 58 economies around the world that proposed carbon neutrality targets between 2000 and 2019. The study used a spatial econometric model to explore the impact of Internet development on carbon emission efficiency. The objective was to provide a policy reference for high-, medium-, and low-income economies worldwide to achieve their carbon neutrality targets as soon as possible. The results of the study showed that carbon emission efficiency was closely linked to economic development level in economies around the world, that the gap between the development levels of high- and low-Internet-connected economies is gradually widening, that Internet development significantly improved carbon emission efficiency, that levels of economic and financial development played a mediating role in the relationship between Internet development and carbon emissions efficiency, and that the level of urbanization played a moderating role in the relationship between Internet development and carbon emissions efficiency. Exploring the influence and the mechanism of action between Internet development and carbon emission efficiency will contribute to early achievement of global carbon neutrality targets in all economies.

Analysis of the mechanism of the impact of internet development on green economic growth: evidence from 269 prefecture cities in China.

As the digital economy develops rapidly and the network information technology advances, new development models represented by the network economy have emerged, which have a crucial impact on green economic growth. However, the relevant previous studies lacked the role of analyzing the direct and indirect effects of internet development on green economic growth at the prefecture-level city level. For this purpose, this paper aims to examine the intrinsic mechanism of the impact of internet development on green economic growth and provide empirical support for cities and regions in China to increase internet construction. Furthermore, the mixed model (EBM), which includes both radial and non-radial distance functions, is applied to calculate the green economic growth index. Fixed effect model and mediation effect model are also employed to test influence mechanisms of the internet development on green economic growth using panel data of 269 prefecture-level cities in China from 2004 to 2019. The statistical results reveal that internet development has contributed significantly to green economic growth. When the internet development level increases by 1 unit, the green economic growth level increases by an average of 5.0372 units. However, regional heterogeneity is evident between internet development and green economic growth, that is, the promoting effect of internet development on green economic growth is gradually enhanced from the eastern region to the western region. We also find that internet development guides industrial structure upgrading improves environmental quality and accelerates enterprise innovation, which indirectly contributes to green economic growth. And internet development mainly achieves green economic growth through enterprise innovation. Based on the above findings, we concluded that policymakers should not only strengthen the guiding role of social actors to promote the stable development of the internet industry, but also foster the construction of the three models of "internet+industry integration," "internet+environmental governance," and "internet+enterprise innovation" to promote green economic growth.

Internet Development, Consumption Upgrading and Carbon Emissions-An Empirical Study from China.

Internet development has changed Chinese people's consumption behavior, gradually expanding from survival consumption (SC) to development and enjoyment consumption (DEC) trends. Consumption is the new engine driving China's economic growth and the terminal of carbon emissions. Simultaneously, China is undergoing a profound change toward the "double carbon" goal, the space for carbon emission reduction in traditional fields is gradually compressed. Therefore, it is necessary to explore carbon emissions from the perspective of consumption terminals. Based on provincial panel data, we use the fixed effects model and mediating effects model to explore the relationship between Internet development, consumption upgrading, and carbon emissions in a unified research framework. The findings show that: (1) Internet development leads to an increase in carbon emissions. A finding remains significant after using instrumental variables to mitigate endogeneity; (2) Internet development promotes consumption upgrading, reflected in development and enjoyment consumption expenditure; (3) Internet development contributes to increasing carbon emissions through consumption upgrading. Heterogeneity analysis shows that Internet development in eastern China significantly contributes to carbon emissions through consumption upgrading, while it is insignificant in central and western regions. The Internet development leading region contributes to an increase in carbon emissions through consumption upgrading. In comparison, the lagging region is insignificant. This study can provide a reference for policymakers in China or other countries to formulate energy-saving and emission-reduction policies in the Internet industry and provide a scientific basis for advocating people's low-carbon consumption behavior and achieving carbon emission reduction at the consumption terminal.