Digital Economy’s Impact on Carbon Emission Performance: Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta, China

Climate change caused by carbon emissions is a hot topic of concern. Enhancing carbon emission performance (CEP) emerges as a pivotal strategy to curtail carbon emissions, with the digital economy recognized as a crucial instrument for bolstering CEP. Grounded in theoretical analysis, this article takes the Yangtze River Delta region (YRD) as the research object and conducts empirical analysis for the period from 2010 to 2021. The Super Epsilon-Based Measure (EBM) model was employed to assess CEP, while the entropy method was used to quantify the level of the digital economy. Baseline regression models and mediation effect models were constructed to test the research hypotheses. Additionally, the Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) was utilized to analyze the spatial spillover effects of the digital economy. Some conclusions were drawn as follows. Firstly, both the digital economy and CEP exhibit growing trends and demonstrate significant spatial distribution characteristics. Cities with high CEP are increasingly concentrated along the Yangtze River and coastal areas. Meanwhile, the digital economy generally demonstrates a spatial distribution pattern of being higher in the southeast and lower in the northwest. Secondly, the digital economy exerts a notable and consistent positive influence on CEP, but this impact is not primarily achieved through promoting green technology innovation. Instead, the digital economy exhibits a stronger intermediary effect on CEP by facilitating industrial structure upgrading and rationalization. Thirdly, the digital economy significantly enhancing local CEP but having an insignificant impact on neighboring cities’ CEP. To address these findings, cities ought to invest in digital infrastructure, incentivize digital innovation through policy and financial backing, and harness advanced technologies like 5G and blockchain to promote low-carbon, intelligent production and lifestyles, while enhancing industrial structure and regional cooperation to foster a low-carbon digital economy network.