Seeing green high-quality development: how the digital economy affects carbon emissions in the yellow river basin and yangtze river economic belt

The digital economy (DE) is an essential transmitter of CO 2 within the economic system, significantly impacting carbon emissions and high-quality development. The Yellow River Basin (YRB) and the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB), China’s two most important economic regions, are critical strategically for achieving the dual carbon target. This paper uses panel data from the YRB and YREB in China from 2011 to 2021 and adopts fixed and mediating effects to explore the internal impact mechanisms and spatial heterogeneity of the DE and carbon emission intensity (CEI) in the context of new quality productivity (NQP). The research results indicate that (1) the DE can significantly reduce CEI. A 1% increase in the DE reduces CEI by 0.1536% in the YRB and 0.0643% in the YREB, respectively. (2) The DE can affect CEI in the YRB and the YREB through mechanisms such as the economic development level, industrial structure advancement and rationalization, energy structure, and level of technological progress, with industrial structure advancement having the highest impact. (3) The YRB has a lower level of DE development and a higher overall CEI than the YREB. (4) A 1% increase in the DE leads to regional CEI variations: in the upstream of the YRB and YREB, CEI decreases by 0.1424% and 0.1956%, respectively, whereas in the midstream of the YRB, it decreases by 0.1298%, and in the downstream of the YREB, it increases by 0.0707%. We propose accelerating the development of the DE and constructing a green and modernized industrial system to achieve carbon reduction and emission mitigation goals.