Do smart cities promote a green economy? Evidence from a quasi-experiment of 253 cities in China

China's carbon neutrality target is not only a new requirement for energy development, but also a guide for the green and low-carbon development mode and direction of the whole economy. In order to achieve green and low-carbon goals, promote the construction of ecological civilization, and realize high-quality urban develop-ment, the Chinese government proposed the construction of smart cities in 2012. Using data from 279 cities in China from 2008 to 2020 and a multi-period difference-in-differences method, this paper empirically tested the impacts of the smart city constructions on the development of urban green economy. The results show that: the implementation of smart city has a significant impact in promoting the development of urban green economy, which is manifested in significantly reducing the pollutant emissions and energy intensity and has regional heterogeneity; Endogeneity issues arising from pilot selection are effectively addressed with the help of instru-mental variables; Furthermore, the impact mechanism of smart city on green economy is also analyzed.

Automated summary

China's carbon neutrality target is not only a new requirement for energy development, but also a guide for the green and low-carbon development mode and direction of the whole economy. In order to achieve green and low-carbon goals, promote the construction of ecological civilization, and realize high-quality urban develop-ment, the Chinese government proposed the construction of smart cities in 2012. Using data from 279 cities in China from 2008 to 2020 and a multi-period difference-in-differences method, this paper empirically tested the impacts of the smart city constructions on the development of urban green economy. The results show that the implementation of smart city has a significant impact in promoting the development of urban green economy, which is manifested in significantly reducing the pollutant emissions and energy intensity and has regional heterogeneity. Endogeneity issues arising from pilot selection are effectively addressed with the help of instrumental variables. Furthermore, the impact mechanism of smart city on green economy is also analyzed.