During the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital economy has developed rapidly. The airborne nature of COVID-19 viruses has attracted worldwide attention. Therefore, it is of great significance to analyze the impact of the digital economy on particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) emissions. The research sample of this paper include 283 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2019 in China. Spatial Durbin model was adopted to explore the spatial spillover effect of digital economy on PM2.5 emissions. In addition, considering the impact of smart city pilot (SCP) policy, a spatial difference-in-differences (SDID) model was used to analyze policy effects. The estimation results indicated that (1) the development of the digital economy significantly reduces PM2.5 emissions. (2) The spatial spillover effect of the digital economy significantly reduces PM2.5 emissions in neighboring cities. (3) Smart city construction increases PM2.5 emissions in neighboring cities. (4) The reduction effect of the digital economy on PM2.5 is more pronounced in the sample of eastern cities and urban agglomerations.
Environmental and energy issues have become a stumbling block to China’s sustainable development, so opening up a green development path has become the focus of much attention. To investigate the impact of green finance on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, this paper uses the difference and systematic generalized method of moment (GMM) estimators. The research sample includes panel data for Chinese 30 provinces from 2000 to 2020. The empirical results indicate that the objective of green finance is to reduce CO2 emissions. Meanwhile, the analysis of the mediation effect leads to the conclusion that green finance reduces CO2 emissions by regulating energy consumption. Finally, this study provides policymakers with new ideas for green finance development and energy conservation.
To achieve the goals of clean production and green development, pilot projects for green industrial transformation (PPGIT) to reduce the environmental pollution emissions from regional enterprises in China have been ongoing for more than five years. This study analyzes 283 prefecture-level cities from 2006 to 2019 using the propensity score matching difference-in-differences (PSM-DID) analysis framework to determine the effects of PPGIT policy implementation. The impacts of PPGIT policy on different pollutants are significantly negative, with the most reductions occurring for sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and the least for particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions. Furthermore, the effects of implementing the PPGIT policy from region to region, with the greatest policy effects of PPGIT in the eastern region. Based on the mechanism effects in different regions, the implementation of PPGIT policy nationwide significantly reduces pollution emissions through the technology effect and structure effect and in different regions, the PPGIT policies reduces emissions through different mechanisms. Overall, this study makes a unified evaluation of the environmental governance practices occurring during China's industrial green transformation process. The results of this study are of great significance for promoting the modernization of environmental governance capacity and improving the construction of an ecological civilization through China’s green development.
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