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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
The Effects of Digitization and Environmental
Regulation on Energy Consumption in China
1
School of Economics and Management, Nanjing Institute of Technology, China
2
Wireline Development Department I, Sanechips Technology Company Limited, China
Submission date: 2023-12-13
Final revision date: 2024-04-21
Acceptance date: 2024-05-27
Online publication date: 2024-10-18
Publication date: 2025-04-04
Corresponding author
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2025;34(4):3565-3575
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
The optimization of energy consumption structure and the mitigation of carbon emissions
are crucial for developing countries to achieve high-quality economic development and green
transformation. Utilizing prefecture-level panel data, this study investigates the impact of environmental
regulation on energy consumption and carbon emissions in China within the framework of digitization.
The findings indicate that interacted effects of digitization and environmental regulation result
in a significant reduction in high-carbon energy consumption and associated carbon emissions. Besides,
as digitization progresses, higher levels of environmental regulation can enhance the positive effects
of digitization on low-carbon energy consumption and its carbon emissions. Mechanism analyses
suggest that digitization development, coinciding with environmental regulation, plays a vital role
in regulating energy consumption in high-carbon and low-carbon energy sectors by fostering investment
in energy equipment. The impact of interactions on clean energy consumption shows a double threshold
effect of both digital development and environmental regulation. However, an excessively high scale
of digitization beyond the second threshold is also found to reduce clean energy consumption.
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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