Can Public Data Openness Improve Carbon Emission Efficiency? A Quasi-Natural Experiment Analysis Based on the Launch of Public Data Platforms

Public data openness (PDO) is critical for advancing digital government initiatives and sustainable development. This study investigates the impact and underlying mechanisms of PDO on carbon emission efficiency (CEE) using a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) approach. The results reveal that the PDO significantly improves CEE. Mechanism analysis demonstrates that PDO enhances CEE by facilitating digital technology innovation, improving capacity utilization, and fostering industrial structure upgrading. The positive effect of PDO on CEE exhibits heterogeneity across the dimensions of data themes, human capital, green finance development, and land marketization. Furthermore, the Broadband China Strategy (BCS) and the New Energy Demonstration City (NEDC) policy amplify PDO’s positive effect on CEE. This study quantitatively evaluates the economic and environmental effects of data resource openness and sharing, offering insights into deepening data infrastructure development and unleashing data’s potential to promote sustainable development.