Impact of the Development of the Digital Economy on Carbon Emissions --Panel Data Analysis Based on Prefecture-Level Cities in Guangdong Province

With the increasingly severe global climate change problem, low-carbon development has become the consensus of the international community. Based on the panel data of 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong Province, China, from 2011 to 2021, this paper analyses in depth the relationship between digital economy and carbon emissions, and explores the impact of digital economy development on carbon emissions and its transmission mechanism. The study finds that: first, the impact of digital economy on carbon emissions is heterogeneous in different regions, with a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between the digital economy and carbon emission levels in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) and the eastern part of Guangdong, while the relationship in the northern part of Guangdong and the western part of Guangdong, which are still in the construction stage of the digital economy, is not significant; second, in the early stage of the development of the digital economy, the maturity of its characteristics will lead to the high inputs and high costs in the process of digital transformation which in turn raises the level of carbon emissions in production and life; third, as the digital economy continues to mature, the early capital, human and technological inputs gradually show a positive net effect, significantly reducing the level of carbon emissions through improved energy use efficiency and optimisation and upgrading of industrial structure. Based on the above findings, the following recommendations are put forward: first, formulate a digital economy emission reduction strategy; second, optimize the construction of digital infrastructure; third, promote the upgrading of industrial structure; fourth, strengthen green technological innovation; fifth, improve the policy incentive mechanism; and sixth, strengthen the coordinated development of the region.