Does the Internet development affect energy and carbon emission performance?

Improving energy and carbon emission performance is of practical significance to the green economy, and Internet development may help achieve this goal. However, the effect of the Internet on energy and carbon emission performance has not been systematically explained. Based on Chinese provincial data from 2006 to 2017, this paper uses the non-radial directional distance function (NDDF) to measure energy and carbon emission performance and then constructs a two-way fixed-effect model. The results indicate that: (1) Internet development significantly improves energy and carbon emission performance, but there is significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity. (2) The analysis of the influence mechanism shows that Internet development is mainly to improve energy and carbon emission performance by promoting industrial structure upgrading and technology diffusion. (3) local government intervention weakens the effect of the Internet, while market-oriented development is conducive to the positive role of Internet. This study helps policy-makers better understand the impact of the Internet on energy and the environment, and formulate effective policies to achieve energy conservation and emission reduction. (C) 2021 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study reveals that Internet development significantly improves energy and carbon emission performance, mainly through promoting industrial structure upgrading and technology diffusion. However, there is significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity, and local government intervention may weaken the effect of the Internet while market-oriented development is conducive to its positive role.