Cross level effects of digitalization and environment management on energy savings in Chinese manufacturing firms

The pathway to energy savings requires coordination of technological progress and policy implementation. Specific factors are needed to bridge cross-disciplinary conversations within just one system. Regional public digital infrastructure and enterprises’ environmental management capabilities are incorporated into a research framework on digitalization and energy savings based on the theory of digital ecosystems. A cross-level moderating model is constructed using data from 2014 to 2022 for 650 Chinese enterprises listed in the manufacturing industry to examine the impact of various digital technologies on energy savings, moderating effect of digital infrastructure and the constraint effect of environmental management systems (EMSs). Artificial intelligence and big data are found making more notable contributions to enterprise energy savings than cloud computing and block chain. For every doubling of a region's digital infrastructure level, the energy-saving effect of local enterprises’ digitalization increases by three times. Digitalization facilitates energy savings for enterprises while digital infrastructure helps overcome limitations associated with insufficient digitalization capabilities. Digitalization significantly affects energy consumption only in enterprises with EMSs, confirming digitalization as an effective energy-saving tool when the enterprise acquires environmental management capabilities.