China has become the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide and there is a growing pressure for China to reduce its total carbon emission and intensity. This paper first theorizes the non-linear and spatial effects of digital economy on carbon emission intensity from a technology adoption life-cycle perspective, and then employs a new spatial panel smooth transition threshold model to examine the effects based on a panel data set.
Although the development of the digital economy can promote carbon emission reduction and efficiency improvement in the old industrial bases, the effect is not evident in the resource-based economic regions. T
