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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Does Cross-Border E-Commerce
Reduce Carbon Emissions? Evidence
from Quasi-Natural Experiment
1
School of Digital Commerce and Trade, Zhejiang Institute of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Hangzhou, China
2
School of International Business, Zhejiang Financial College, Hangzhou, China
Submission date: 2024-06-22
Final revision date: 2024-09-06
Acceptance date: 2024-09-29
Online publication date: 2025-01-27
Publication date: 2025-11-04
Corresponding author
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2025;34(6):7551-7565
KEYWORDS
cross-border e-commercecross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zonescarbon emissionsgreen innovation capabilityindustrial structural upgrading
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
As the main form of digital trade, cross-border e-commerce has become an important factor
influencing China’s green and low-carbon transition. This article used the multi-period Difference-in-
Differences (DID) method to comprehensively examine the effect of cross-border e-commerce on urban
carbon emissions based on data from 283 cities in China from 2009 to 2019. The results showed that
cross-border e-commerce can significantly reduce urban carbon emissions. However, there is significant
heterogeneity in the effect of cross-border e-commerce on urban carbon emissions due to differences
in digital infrastructure, environmental regulatory intensity, geographic location, and city level. Further
mechanism testing found that cross-border e-commerce primarily reduces carbon emissions through
green technological innovation and industrial structural upgrading. This article provides directional
insights for the future development of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones and offers
empirical evidence for China to promote the coordinated development of environmental protection
and trade.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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