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Digital Governance and Low-Carbon Development

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 24906

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Wei Zhang

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Guest Editor

School of Public Administration, Sichuan University, 24 Nanyiduan, Yihuan Rd., Wuhou Dist., Chengdu 610065, China
Interests: scientific and technological innovation and knowledge management; public policy and green governance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Xiaofeng Xu

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School of Economics and Management, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao 266580, China
Interests: supply chain management and operational optimization; operation management; energy systems engineering
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Prof. Dr. Yibin Ao

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College of Environment and Civil Engineering, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
Interests: travel behavior and energy effects using quantitative methods; rural infrastructure management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Cong Cheng

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Guest Editor

China institute of Small and Medium Enterprise, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
Interests: digital innovation management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the vigorous development of the new generation of digital technologies and profound changes in the development and production mode of the real economy, digital development has become an inevitable trend. Digital economy is becoming a key force in restructuring global factor resources, reshaping global economic structure and changing global competition pattern. At present, digitalization and low carbon are two of the most important global development trends, which can promote each other. While promoting the transformation and upgrading of existing modes of production and living, digitalization will open up new markets for digital industries, improve economic and social efficiency, and achieve carbon emission reduction. Low-carbon is the common goal pursued by all countries in the world. It promotes the transformation of development concepts and models and encourages countries to tackle climate change and achieve sustainable development by accelerating digital transformation, upgrading energy systems, and carrying out carbon pricing. Therefore, to advocate a new direction of green and low carbon in digital life, to reflect the new elements of digital development in green and low-carbon life has become an important concept of current green development. However, how digital governance contributes to low-carbon development and how the requirements of low-carbon sustainable development drive the establishment and operation of digital governance system have become important problems for people to continue to solve. With this aim in mind, this Special Issue will present original research and review articles that elaborate on theories, research methods, and mathematical or empirical studies covering digital governance and low-carbon development from the perspective of big data management, digital government, environmental economics, strategic management, sustainability, and public policy. Articles should provide theoretical and/or practical implications for low-carbon development.

Prof. Dr. Wei Zhang
Prof. Dr. Xiaofeng Xu
Prof. Dr. Yibin Ao
Prof. Dr. Cong Cheng
Guest Editors

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

digital governance
low-carbon development
public policy
digital government
green performance
green strategy
big data analytics
information technology (IT)
low-carbon cities
intelligent management

Published Papers (14 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 8315 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Environmental Regulation in Evolution and Governance Strategies

by Guangyuan Xing, Youheng Zhang and Ju’e Guo

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(6), 4906; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20064906 - 10 Mar 2023

Viewed by 1497

Abstract

Environmental regulation faces theoretical and practical research challenges on global scale, due to differences such as language and policy environment. Research reflects the beneficial exploration of scholars, policymakers, and enterprises in the cognitive and behavioural norms of economic development, environmental protection, and social governance. This study demonstrated that the relevant research is motivated by the enaction of environmental regulations and discussed the influence of relevant research on the evolution of environmental regulations. Under the assumption that environmental regulations are consistent with related research, this study used 9185 papers in the field of environmental regulation from 2000 to 2019 to construct a research network panorama and explored the development and revelation of environmental regulation. The results revealed that environmental regulation research is motivated by the introduction of policies, and regulation is influenced by research evolution with the path of ‘competitiveness-technological change-innovation.’ In addition, after the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21), the number of studies increased significantly, with the USA in the leading position in the research field. Furthermore, governance strategies were inspired by real events, including the increasing concern with climate change, regional research preferences, and the promotion of information disclosure. These results suggest that environmental governors should focus on climate change, localisation, and mechanisms of information disclosure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Governance and Low-Carbon Development)

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13 pages, 1894 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How to Evaluate Green Development Policy Based on the PMC Index Model: Evidence from China

by Xiang-Fei Ma and Yi-Fan Ruan

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(5), 4249; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054249 - 27 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1741

Abstract

Implementing green development is important to realizing a harmonious relationship between humans and nature, and has attracted the attention of governments all over the world. This paper uses the PMC (Policy Modeling Consistency) model to make a quantitative evaluation of 21 representative green development policies issued by the Chinese government. The research finds: firstly, the overall evaluation grade of green development is good and the average PMC index of China’s 21 green development policies is 6.59. Second, the evaluation of 21 green development policies can be divided into four different grades. Most grades of the 21 policies are excellent and good; the values of five first-level indicators about policy nature, policy function, content evaluation, social welfare, and policy object are high, which indicates that the 21 green development policies in this paper are relatively comprehensive and complete. Third, most green development policies are feasible. In twenty-one green development policies, there are: one perfect-grade policy, eight excellent-grade policies, ten good-grade policies, and two bad-grade policies. Fourthly, this paper analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of policies in different evaluation grades by drawing four PMC surface graphs. Finally, based on the research findings, this paper puts forward suggestions to optimize the green development policy-making of China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Governance and Low-Carbon Development)

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12 pages, 2527 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multiobjective Gate Assignment Model Considering Carbon Emissions

by Yixuan Shan, Yuwei Shao, Qi Yuan and Yu Jiang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(5), 3952; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20053952 - 23 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1163

Abstract

It has been a main concern for governments to reduce the carbon emission of the aviation industry. The paper proposes a multiobjective gate assignment model that considers the carbon emission at the airport surface to facilitate environmental-friendly airport construction. Three objectives are considered in the model to reduce carbon emissions, including the proportion of flights assigned to the contact gate, aircraft taxiing fuel consumption, and gate assignment robustness. In order to achieve better performance on all objectives, a Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II) is used to obtain the optimal results. The operation data from a domestic airport is deployed to validate the model. The optimal results of the gate assignment model are compared with the original scheme. It indicates that the proposed model can effectively reduce carbon emissions. The study can provide a strategy for gate assignment to reduce carbon emissions and improve the management of the airport. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Governance and Low-Carbon Development)

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15 pages, 1271 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of the Social Effects of Enterprise Carbon Accounts Based on Variable Weight CFPR Fuzzy VIKOR

by Xiangyi Lin, Hongyun Luo, Yinghuan Lian and Yifei Jiang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(4), 3704; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043704 - 19 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1423

Abstract

The carbon account is a digital path for an enterprise to achieve low-carbon transformation and high-quality sustainable development under the ‘dual carbon’ strategy. The carbon account has a good social effect while generating economic benefits. An evaluation index system of the social effects of enterprise carbon accounts has been established, including the concepts of energy conservation and carbon reduction, contributions, technological innovation, and customer trust. In view of the difficulty of quantifying the evaluation indicators of the social effects of enterprise carbon accounts and the requirement of effect equalization, a variable-weight CFPR fuzzy VIKOR evaluation model was constructed. Compared with the traditional fuzzy VIKOR model, the variable-weight CFPR fuzzy VIKOR model can solve the problem of quantifying indicators and realize the balance between indicators. This method can better compare and analyze the social effects of each enterprise’s carbon accounts and provides a basis for overall carbon account construction and digging improvement space. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Governance and Low-Carbon Development)

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26 pages, 5051 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of the Carrying Capacity and Suitability of Spatial Resources and the Environment and Diagnosis of Obstacle Factors in the Yellow River Basin

by Yu Chen, Shuangshuang Liu, Wenbo Ma and Qian Zhou

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(4), 3496; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043496 - 16 Feb 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1737

Abstract

The assessment of the carrying capacity and suitability of spatial resources and the environment can provide effective guidance for regional planning and make vital contributions to the high-quality advancement of society and the economy. Additionally, this scientific evaluation of the spatial carrying capacity and suitability of urban production–living–ecological space (PLES) has important scientific value as well as practical significance for territorial spatial planning. This paper takes the cities along the Yellow River Basin (YRB) as the research object; establishes the PLES resource and environment carrying capacity evaluation index system; uses the multi-indicator superposition method and entropy weight method to evaluate the ecological importance, production and life carrying capacity of 78 cities in the YRB from 2010 to 2020; obtains the final ecological importance, production and life suitability levels based on the carrying capacity combined with the location conditions; and uses exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA), the barrier degree model and other methods to determine the cities’ spatial and temporal patterns and influencing factors. The findings indicate that: (1) Ecological importance is characterized by “high upstream and low downstream”; the suitability for production is higher mainly in the eastern coastal area; the suitability of life as a whole is increasing, and the higher grade is in some provincial capitals and surrounding cities. (2) The local Moran’s I all passed the test, and the relationship between PLES showed a significant positive spatial correlation. The clustering characteristics of ecological importance and production suitability are strong, while the clustering characteristics of suitability for living functions are relatively weak. (3) Biodiversity, significance of water conservation and significance of wind and grit control functions are the main barrier factors affecting the ecological importance of the YRB; industrial value-added output per unit of industrial land, number of industrial enterprises above the scale and GDP per capita are the dominant factors affecting the production suitability of the study area; total water-resource utilization per capita, total sewage treatment per capita and residential land area per capita are the main barrier factors of living suitability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Governance and Low-Carbon Development)

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21 pages, 1392 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Health Damage of Air Pollution, Governance Uncertainty and Economic Growth

by Yi Zhang, Mengyang Wang, Tao Shi, Huan Huang and Qi Huang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(4), 3036; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043036 - 9 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1221

Abstract

The evaluation of environmental and health governance processes is an important part of the innovation and perfection of modern governance systems. Based on the macropanel samples, this paper analyzes the impact of the health damage caused by air pollution (APHD) on economic growth and the related mechanisms accordingly using the moderate model and the threshold model. The results can be concluded as follows: (1) After locking in the health damage perspective, the APHD has a negative impact on economic growth. When other conditions are met, economic growth will significantly drop by 1.233 percent for each unit increase in the APHD index. (2) There is a moderate effect of governance uncertainty in APHD on economic growth with different characteristics. The combination of governance uncertainty and APHD can significantly inhibit economic growth, and this moderating effect has different impacts due to heterogeneous conditions. Spatially, this inhibitory effect is significantly obvious in the eastern, central, and western regions, while the negative effect is significant in areas north of the Huai River with medium and low self-defense ability. Additionally, compared with the delegating of governance power at the municipal level, when the governance power is delegated at the county level, the interaction between the governance uncertainty constructed by income fiscal decentralization and APHD has a less negative economic effect. (3) There is a threshold effect under the conditions of a low level of decentralization of prevention and control, a high level of investment in governance, and a low level of APHD. However, under the condition of a certain APHD level, when the decentralization level of pollution control is higher than 7.916 and the input level of pollution control in GDP is lower than 1.77%, the negative moderating effect can be effectively reduced. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Governance and Low-Carbon Development)

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22 pages, 1404 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Is ICT Development Conducive to Reducing the Vulnerability of Low-Carbon Energy? Evidence from OECD Countries

by Lingling Zhou, Tao Shi and Qian Zhou

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(3), 2444; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032444 - 30 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2343

Abstract

This paper constructs a low-carbon energy vulnerability system with the three dimensions of economy–society–environment, uses the entropy method to measure the low-carbon energy vulnerability index of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries from 2002 to 2018, and observes the essential characteristics. On this basis, we analyze the impact of the development of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) service industry on the vulnerability of low-carbon energy and explore the moderating effects of technological innovation and resource consumption. This paper draws the following conclusions: (1) The low-carbon energy vulnerability of OECD countries shows a gradual downward trend, showing three stages of “continuous rise—declining volatility—low-level fluctuation”. The low-carbon energy policies and implementation efforts in different countries have become the key to reducing the vulnerabilities of low-carbon energy in OECD countries. The economic and social vulnerabilities of low-carbon energy in most countries are outstanding. (2) The development of the ICT service industry benefits by reducing the vulnerability of low-carbon energy with a significant weakening effect, while high-vulnerability countries benefit even more. (3) In the weakening effect of the development of the ICT service industry on the vulnerability of low-carbon energy, technological innovation exerts an enhanced moderating effect, and resource consumption exerts a disruptive moderating effect. Technological innovation accelerates the weakening effect of the ICT service industry, and resource consumption is not conducive to the weakening effect of the ICT service industry. Based on this, we draw corresponding policy recommendations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Governance and Low-Carbon Development)

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16 pages, 1292 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Impact of China’s ETS on Corporate Green Governance Based on the Perspective of Corporate ESG Performance

by Riquan Yao, Yingqun Fei, Zhong Wang, Xin Yao and Sasa Yang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(3), 2292; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032292 - 27 Jan 2023

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2304

Abstract

To achieve China’s “dual carbon” and common prosperity goals, corporate green governance is crucial. A key tool for promoting green growth is environmental legislation, particularly market-based regulation. With China’s carbon emission trading as a natural experiment, we adopt the DID method to quantitatively compare the gap between ESG performance of pilot and non-pilot carbon trading enterprises before and after policy implementation, thereby examining the impact, mechanism and optimization conditions of market-based environmental policy on corporate green governance based on panel data of China’s A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2019. In addition, PSM-DID and other methods are employed for preventing estimation bias caused by sample self-selection bias. It is found that: (1) the green governance level of pilot firms can be considerably improved by a carbon emission trading scheme (ETS); (2) the ETS primarily encourages enterprises to uphold their ESG obligations through increasing regulatory pressure from the government and corporate involvement in clean innovation; (3) enhancing regional marketization can strengthen the impact of carbon trading policy, and enterprises that are large and non-state-owned exhibit better performance with regard to green governance as a result of carbon trading policy. This paper provides practical experience for promoting corporate green governance to achieve the “dual carbon” goal based on a market mechanism from a micro perspective. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Governance and Low-Carbon Development)

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27 pages, 585 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pricing and Quantity Decisions under Asymmetric Carbon Emission Reduction Information and Cap-and-Trade Mechanism

by Faqi Xie, Yushuang Deng and Huiru Chen

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(3), 1944; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20031944 - 20 Jan 2023

Viewed by 1384

Abstract

With the continuous spread of cap-and-trade mechanisms and consumers’ great concerns about environmental issues, manufacturers strive to reduce carbon emissions. Unfortunately, they are not always willing to disclose their accurate emission reductions or may even falsify emission reduction information. By developing a signaling model, we explore the impact of the cap-and-trade mechanism and asymmetric information on the decision-making of supply chain members composed of a manufacturer regulated by the cap-and-trade mechanism, and a retailer. As a result, we show that the low-type manufacturer has the incentive to mimic the pricing behavior of the high-type manufacturer under information asymmetry. Thus, in order to avoid this mimicry, the high-type manufacturer will distort the wholesale price. Moreover, the impact of the cap-and-trade mechanism on the manufacturer depends on the initial quotas. Only when the initial quota is in the middle range does the high-type manufacturer benefit, while the low-type manufacturer suffers. Furthermore, the low-type manufacturer tends to hide emission reduction information, while the high-type manufacturer tends to disclose the information. We also address how information asymmetry weakens the emission reduction advantages of the high-type manufacturer. However, the cap-and-trade mechanism can effectively alleviate this negative effect. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Governance and Low-Carbon Development)

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15 pages, 1401 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How to Evaluate the Level of Green Development Based on Entropy Weight TOPSIS: Evidence from China

by Xiang-Fei Ma, Ru Zhang and Yi-Fan Ruan

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(3), 1707; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20031707 - 17 Jan 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1332

Abstract

Evaluating the level of green development is of great significance to better implement the concept of green development. By constructing an evaluation index system for green development, this paper comprehensively uses the entropy weight Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method and coefficient of variation method to evaluate the green development level of 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2019 and analyzes the regional differences of green development in China. The research findings are as follows: First, the level of green development in China is low but shows a slow rise trend, from 2010 to 2019; China’s green development level rises from 0.274 to 0.317, an increase of 15.7%. Secondly, regional differences of green development in China are obvious, with the level ranking from high to low as eastern, western, and central regions. Third, regional differences in China’s green development first widen and then narrow, with the variation coefficient of green development in 30 provinces and eastern, central, and western regions of China showing an inverted U-shaped trend of first increasing and then decreasing. Fourth, the regional difference of green development in eastern China is largest, followed by western China, and the smallest is central China. Finally, based on research findings, relevant policy recommendations are put forward. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Governance and Low-Carbon Development)

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18 pages, 390 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Air Pollution and Migration Decision of Migrants in Low-Carbon Society

by Feiwei Shen, Qiang Wang, Jing Zou, Huili Yan and Baitao Wang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(1), 870; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010870 - 3 Jan 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1835

Abstract

The influence of environmental quality on the quality of urban life and on migration decisions is an important research issue in urban economics and environmental economics. Using the 2012–2014 China Labor Dynamics Survey data (CLDS), this paper uses a conditional logit model (CLM) and Instrumental Variable (IV) estimation to examine the impact of air pollution on the migrant migration decision. We find that air pollution significantly negatively impacts the migration decisions of migrants. Specifically, if the PM2.5 level of a city increases by 10 μg/m³, the probability of migrants flowing into the city will be significantly reduced by 21.2%. It shows that migrants choose to flow into cities with better spatial quality to reduce the risk of exposure to air pollution. After controlling for the characteristics of the outflow and the reasons for the flow, the impact of air pollution on migrants’ migration decisions remains robust. Heterogeneity analysis shows that middle-aged, male, married, and highly educated migrants are more sensitive to air pollution. This paper enriches the research on air pollution and labor mobility at the micro level and provides empirical evidence for policymaking related to environmental governance and labor mobility in a low-carbon society. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Governance and Low-Carbon Development)

25 pages, 2263 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Can Population Mobility Make Cities More Resilient? Evidence from the Analysis of Baidu Migration Big Data in China

by Yu Chen, Keyang Li, Qian Zhou and Yuxin Zhang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(1), 36; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010036 - 20 Dec 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1835

Abstract

Knowledge spillover and capital agglomeration caused by population migration behavior are of great significance for improving the carrying capacity and adaptability of the urban economy and promoting high-quality economic development. Based on the big data collected on urban migration during the Spring Festival travel period, this paper constructs geographic, economic and geo-economic matrices, introduces two instrumental variables, and uses a spatial econometric model to investigate the mechanism between population mobility and urban economic resilience. The results show that (1) urban economic resilience exhibits spatial correlation, and the correlation order is geo-economic matrix > economic matrix > geography matrix; (2) the economic resilience of inflow areas is significantly affected by the net inflow of population, and the urban economic resilience index increases by 0.36–0.56% when the population mobility index increases by one unit; (3) in the case of economic and geo-economic matrices, there is a spatial interaction relationship of neighbor-companion in the mechanism of population migration on urban economic resilience; and (4) the mechanism is significantly impacted by innovation input and fixed asset investment, with positive moderating effects. In the geographical and economic matrices, the innovation input effect has a negative externality, while in the economic and geo-economic matrices, the fixed asset investment effect has a positive externality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Governance and Low-Carbon Development)

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26 pages, 3338 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Measuring the Level of Urban–Rural Integration Development and Analyzing the Spatial Pattern Based on the New Development Concept: Evidence from Cities in the Yellow River Basin

by Leiru Wei, Xiaojie Zhao and Jianxin Lu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(1), 15; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010015 - 20 Dec 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1866

Abstract

Urban–rural integration development (URID) is the solution to the excessive urban–rural gap, unequal and insufficient development in urban–rural areas, along with the process of dynamic and balanced urban–rural growth. The promotion of high-quality development and sustainable development in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) depends heavily on the scientific development of an evaluation index for urban–rural integration (URI), the quantitative measurement of the level of URI, and the accurate identification of the spatial layout of URI. The URI indicator system is built using the new development philosophy, and 94 cities in the YRB are used as samples. The spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of the URID in the YRB were studied from 2010 to 2020 using the entropy value method and coupled coordination model. The study shows that from 2010 to 2020, along the YRB, both urban and rural development (URD) levels generally increased. However, regional differences increased and development levels varied, showing a trend of uneven development between provinces. Overall, the degree of URID was increasing and still low, but there are three main types of urban–rural coupling and coordination (URCC) that are relatively stable: barely coordinated, primary coordination, and on the verge of disorder. Primary coordination replaced barely coordinated as the dominant type over time. Finally, it is suggested that urban and rural regions should not be “managed separately” but rather should be viewed as a cohesive organic whole; to drive urban cluster construction and spur rural development, to further close the urban–rural divide, reliance on the city centre is necessary. Concurrently, this encourages the transfer of farm labour and supports the coordinated growth of urban–rural industries; investment in advantageous industries is strengthened; the construction of URIs should be promoted at a more microscopic city and county level; and strong support is provided to achieve high-quality sustainable development of the YRB. It is important to put into practice the new development philosophy, investigate the fundamental causes of the growing urban–rural divide, change the development strategy, and optimize this new development path. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Governance and Low-Carbon Development)

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13 pages, 681 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Carbon Emissions Trading and Green Technology Innovation—A Quasi-natural Experiment Based on a Carbon Trading Market Pilot

by Weiming Liu, Yating Qiu, Lijiang Jia and Hang Zhou

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(24), 16700; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416700 - 12 Dec 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1852

Abstract

Carbon emissions trading policy has received widespread attention from scholars as a core policy tool to reduce carbon emissions. While most scholars have previously focused on the carbon emission reduction effect, this paper investigates the impact of carbon emissions trading policy on green technology innovation using a differences-in-differences method based on provincial panel data from 2005–2019, using a carbon emissions trading pilot as a quasi-natural experiment. The findings show that the policy can significantly promote green technology innovation, but with a lagged effect, and this finding still holds in the robustness test. Further heterogeneity analysis reveals that the stronger the human capital, the stronger the intellectual property protection and the stronger the marketization with better policy effects. In addition, carbon emissions trading policy can indirectly affect green technology innovation by influencing research investment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Governance and Low-Carbon Development)

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