Impact of the rural digital economy on livestock carbon emissions and pollution mitigation in China

The synergistic control of livestock carbon emissions and environmental pollution (SCLCP) is essential for the sustainable development of animal husbandry. Using panel data from the provincial level in China from 2011 to 2021, this study empirically examined the effect of the rural digital economy on livestock carbon emissions and pollution mitigation. Four key findings are given. First, the rural digital economic significantly facilitates the synergistic control of livestock carbon emissions and pollution, with robustness confirmed through instrumental variable approaches and other robustness tests. Second, mechanism analysis revealed that the rural digital economy can promote SCLCP through green technology progress, resource allocation efficiency improvement and production agglomeration. Third, heterogeneity analysis indicates that government support would further strengthen the effect of the rural digital economy on SCLCP, and this impact mainly occurs in agricultural zone and agropastoral transitional zone. In contrast, marketization weakens this effect in agricultural zone. Finally, spatial econometric analysis demonstrated that the rural digital economy can reduce livestock carbon emissions in neighboring areas, with marketization exerting a positive moderating effect, while government support had no significant moderating effect. Additionally, the spatial spillover effect of the rural digital economy on livestock-related environmental pollution was not significant.