Spatial linkages between digital economy and carbon reduction under dual carbon goals

Since announcing its “dual carbon” goals, China has made reducing carbon emissions a top priority. This study utilizes panel data from 285 cities in China, from 2011–2021, to systematically examine the relationship between the digital economy and urban carbon output. It aims to identify their relationship by introducing SDM and DID model. The findings are as follows: (1) Improving the digital economy is essential to significantly lowering carbon output. These benchmark regression results have passed robustness tests. (2) The SDM model results show that the development of the digital economy significantly reduces both total and direct carbon emissions in local cities, and there is a significant spatial spillover effect. (3) The digital economy’s impact on carbon reduction varies greatly by regional distribution and city size, exhibiting significant heterogeneity.