The impact of digital industries on carbon emission in China: Input-output and structural decomposition analysis

• Measuring the embodied carbon emissions of digital industries in 30 provinces in China based on input-output modelling. • Quantitatively analyze the drivers of embodied carbon emissions in 30 provinces in China. • Evaluating the impact of the structural effects of digital industries on carbon emissions under a dual region-industry perspective. The effect of digital industries (DI) on carbon emissions has drawn significant attention, however, comprehensive consideration of regional heterogeneity, industry variability, and direct and indirect impacts is still lacking in existing studies. This study uses the Input-Output method and Structural Decomposition Analysis models to measure the structural effects of DI on carbon emissions in China from 2007 to 2017, through a dual perspective of “region-industry”. The results show that: (1) embodied carbon emissions of DI show an upward trend, and the indirect carbon emissions are much higher than the direct carbon emissions; (2) the structural effects of DI contribute to a total reduction of -45.68 Mt in China's carbon emissions, but the structural effects of DI on embodied carbon emissions show significant regional heterogeneity, and the carbon emissions in Jiangsu, Shanghai, Hubei, and other provinces have obvious changes; (3) the structural effects of DI primarily affect carbon emissions in the industrial and service sectors, in the early stage, the structural effects of DI led to an increase in the carbon emissions of the industrial sectors and a decrease in the service sectors, however, in recent years, the trend reversed; (4) based on the development level of DI and the structural effects of DI on carbon emissions in each industry, 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China can be classified into five categories, and tailored emission reduction strategies should be implemented in different provinces. The above findings provide scientific references for exploring how regions can synergize carbon reduction while promoting the digital economy from the perspective of industry sectors.