Assessing e-commerce impacts on China's CO2 emissions: testing the CKC hypothesis

How does e-commerce development affect county-level CO2 emissions: New evidence from 2,142 counties in China

Existing literature continues to present divergent perspectives regarding how e-commerce development influences CO2 emissions. The China's county-level e-commerce pilot program provides new evidence for researches in this subject. This study investigates the effects of China's rural e-commerce development on CO2 emissions using panel data in 2142 counties from 2010 to 2021, as well as a staggered Difference-in-Differences (DiD) model based on the "Rural E-commerce Demonstration Counties " (REDC) pilot program. Considering the REDC preference towards poor areas, this paper adds the selection variable of pilot program into the model. The main purpose of the REDC is to foster e-commerce growth, but this study finds that the pilot program inadvertently significantly reduces county-level CO2 emissions while promoting GDP growth in the county. The pilot program of e-commerce mainly achieves carbon reduction through two channels: encouraging the servitization of county industrial structures and the digital transformation of traditional industries. Emissions reductions have a greater impact on economically developed places, provinces with a stronger basis in e-commerce, and counties with better mobility options. This study accurately assesses the impact of e-commerce expansion on reducing emissions, providing new idea for digital carbon emissions reduction and offers policy implications for sustainable economic development in many developing countries (regions).

Towards a sustainable construction: A newly proposed Tapio-global meta-frontier DEA framework for decoupling China's construction economy from its carbon emissions

Uncovering the decoupling degree and its influencing factors is an important work to look for the carbon abatement and sustainable development in China's construction industry (CCI). To arrive at a solution, we proposed a research framework by taking into account the Tapio decoupling model and biased directional distance function based on global meta-frontier DEA, so as to reveal out the motive force and resistance that can help decouple construction industry economy from its carbon emissions. Discussion results indicate that during the sample period: (1) China's construction economy and carbon emissions exhibited weak decoupling. The advances of energy/production technology were two dominant factors in helping construction economy decoupled from carbon emissions, while construction economic activity exerted the largest effects in impeding decoupling process. (2) The decoupling degree and driving effects differed significantly in three regions. Regional energy/production technology disparity narrowed in central and western region, and further contributed to their decoupling. Energy-biased and output-biased scale change exerted impeding effects on the decoupling in eastern and central region, while exerted diametrically opposite effects on western region's decoupling. Besides, the change of energy/production resource allocation efficiency in eastern and western region acted motivating effects in their decoupling, while formed restriction in central region's decoupling.

Does tourism development, financial development and renewable energy drive high-quality economic development?

Tourism development is generally agreed upon to be a key tool in promoting economic growth, and green development has emerged as a significant idea and an efficient approach to accomplish this goal in a manner that is environmentally responsible. It is common knowledge that making the switch to renewable sources of energy may act as a catalyst for economic development in both developed and developing nations. Therefore, people all over the globe are beginning to realize the significance of advancing renewable energy's rising importance that suggests that it will be used extensively in the years to come. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect that increasing tourism and adopting renewable energy sources impact on green economic growth development in the region using the AMG test BRICS nations from 2001 to 2022. This research additionally makes use of a rigorous check by means of the CCEMG exam and the DCCEMG test. According to the findings, green economic growth is influenced favorably by the expansion of the tourist industry, renewable energy, and the digital economy, but urbanization and the rise financial industry are detrimental to green economic growth. D-H panel causality test results show that tourism development is causally related to green economic growth, green economic growth to urbanization, and green economic growth to the usage of renewable energy sources. According to these results, the management authorities of BRICS nations should embrace policies of green growth while also controlling environmental pollution in order to achieve sustainable economic development whereas in rural areas. The findings have major policy implications for the nations that make up the BRICS bloc. These implications pertain to the enhancement of tourist development, the digital economy (DIG), and financial institutions, all of which have the potential to improve environmental quality.

A firm-level analysis of Chinese commercial health insurance surrender

Based on the unbalanced panel data of Chinese professional health insurance companies from 2011 to 2021, the paper constructs "PW+PCSE" model to empirically investigate the main factors affecting the commercial health insurance surrender in China from the company level. The results show that asset-liability ratio has a significant positive effect on health insurance surrender rate. The value preservation and appreciation rate of capital and R&D expenditure rate both have significant negative effects on health insurance surrender rate. These studies bring important enlightenment for domestic health insurance companies to avoid surrender risk.

Decoding the green supply chain: Education as the key to economic growth and sustainability

The value of environmental safeguarding is rising in both private and public spheres. What is meant by the term "green supply chain management" (GSCM)? It is minimizing the negative effects of a company's operations on the natural world. Particularly in the research and academic disciplines of the expanding economy of the China region, the concept of the intersection of green supply chain management and sustainable development is dissected at a foundational level. However, there has been little attention paid to how GSCM, GHC, environmental performance, and economic performance all relate to one another. This study fills that void in the literature by giving hard data to encourage businesses in the China area to adopt GHC (green human capital) and SCM (sustainable supply chain management) in order to significantly improve their environmental and economic outcomes. To better understand the interplay between these ideas, we constructed a conceptual framework. The information was gathered using a survey consisting of questionnaires. Manufacturing companies from ten (10) different areas in China provided the 470 responses. The information was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Research shows that green human capital and green supply chain management have a beneficial influence on economic performance but no discernible effect on environmental outcomes. The results also demonstrate that green supply chain management is an effective act as a mediator between environmental performance and economic performance, with a beneficial effect on both. An initial conclusion may be made that bettering the green human capital stock was more important for China's green economy's growth than bettering the human capital structure. Research like this helps fill out the picture of the green economy and informs policy decisions at the national level.

Toward a low carbon path: Do E-commerce reduce CO2 emissions? Evidence from China

To address global climate change, achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality has become a global consensus. However, the means to simultaneously achieve carbon reduction and promote green economic development, particularly in developing countries, require further investigation. This study evaluates the impact of e-commerce on CO2 emissions. Through an examination of the effects of the National E-Commerce Demonstration City (NEDC) policy from 2006 to 2017, this paper reveals that e-commerce growth facilitated by the NEDC policy resulted in a 7.89% reduction in total CO2 emissions and a per capita reduction of 1.1146 tons in the pilot cities. Mechanism analysis demonstrates that the upgrading of industrial structure, development of digital finance, and the growth of innovation and entrepreneurship serve as primary pathways for this impact. The robustness of the findings is supported by parallel trend tests, placebo tests, and additional sensitivity analyses. Furthermore, the research reveals that the NEDC policy exhibits a more significant reduction in CO2 emissions in cities with higher levels of economic development and non-resource-based cities. Welfare analyses show that the NEDC policy has significant socio-economic effects. These findings provide new evidence on the environmental effects of the digital economy and offer insights into achieving carbon neutrality.

E-commerce development and its contribution to agricultural non-point source pollution control: Evidence from 283 cities in China

Agricultural non-point source (ANPS) pollution is a pressing environmental issue in developing countries that poses a substantial threat to sustainable development. With the rapid growth of e-commerce and its great penetration and transformation in many socioeconomic sectors, e-commerce plus agriculture is widely regarded as the solution to sustainable agricultural development. However, the environmental impacts of e-commerce on agriculture, as well as the underlying mechanisms have yet to be fully explored and verified. Based on China's practices of e-commerce development and its integration with agriculture, a panel dataset of 283 prefecture-level cities from 2009 to 2019 was collected, and a spatial difference in difference (SDID) model combined with a Durbin model was constructed to examine the local and spatial spillover effects of e-commerce development on ANPS pollution. It is found out that e-commerce development has significant positive environmental impacts achieved by stimulating industrial structure upgrading and promoting green technology innovation, while the mechanism of cultivation scaling up tends to aggravate the ANPS pollution. Spatial analysis demonstrates that e-commerce development also helps alleviate the ANPS pollution of neighboring regions with a decayed effect over a distance. Meanwhile, the impact of e-commerce on mitigating ANPS pollution shows regional heterogeneity. Those developed regions present significant positive effects, while those regions dominated by agriculture economy and without sufficient supporting facilities for e-commerce development, show significant negative effects. Therefore, we argue that the positive environmental contribution of e-commerce is not bound to happen but instead is contingent, while policies should be adapted to local conditions and enhanced to encourage the integration of e-commerce and other socioeconomic sectors, in order to develop beyond the immature pioneering stage.

Can e-commerce reduce urban CO2 emissions? Evidence from National E-commerce Demonstration Cities policy in China

The existing studies ignore the potential impact of e-commerce on CO₂ emissions. Based on panel data of 284 cities at the prefecture level and above in China from 2003 to 2019, we regard National E-commerce Demonstration Cities (NEDC) policy as a quasi-natural experiment and empirically examine the impact and mechanism of NEDC policy on urban CO₂ emissions by using multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) model and mediating effect model. The results show that, under the premise of satisfying parallel trends, the NEDC policy significantly reduces urban CO₂ emissions. Compared with the non-pilot cities, the NEDC policy leads to decreases in urban CO₂ emissions by 0.83%. The result still holds after a series of robustness tests, which include placebo test, propensity score matching (PSM) DID estimation, and instrumental variable estimation. The NEDC policy reduces urban CO₂ emissions through promoting industrial structure upgrading, green technology innovation, and economic agglomeration. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the reduction effect of NEDC policy on urban CO₂ emissions is stronger in non-western cities, larger scale cities, and resource-based cities.

The spatial effect of industrial transfer on carbon emissions under firm location decision:A carbon neutrality perspective

Climate change is a global concern. The goal of carbon neutrality and emission peak is a challenge for China and other developing countries. The carbon reduction policy for carbon neutrality and industrial transfer policy will be a research hotspot on carbon emissions. This study analyzed the spatial impact mechanism of industrial transfer on carbon emissions, especially the role of firm location decision and carbon reduction policy. Based on the dynamic deviation-share model, the industrial transfer products of 30 provinces in China during the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" and "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" periods were measured. The spatially weighted interaction model based on improved parameters was then utilized to explore the spatial effect of industrial transfer and carbon reduction policy on regional carbon emissions. The results show that the restrictive carbon reduction policy through centrifugal effect lead to the location shift of manufacturing firms. Industrial transfer and carbon emissions are significantly related. The restrictive carbon reduction policy has significant spatial emission reduction effect. The carbon reduction policy and industrial transfer level of different region comprehensively were the key factors affecting China's carbon neutral goal. The findings have implications for optimizing the scheme of carbon emission reduction tasks allocation between regions.

Spatio-Temporal Variations and Influencing Factors of Country-Level Carbon Emissions for Northeast China Based on VIIRS Nighttime Lighting Data

This paper constructs a county-level carbon emission inversion model in Northeast China. We first fit the nighttime light data of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) with local energy consumption statistics and carbon emissions data. We analyze the temporal and spatial characteristics of county-level energy-related carbon emissions in Northeast China from 2012 to 2020. At the same time, we use the geographic detector method to analyze the impact of various socio-economic factors on county carbon emissions under the single effect and interaction. The main results are as follows: (1) The county-level carbon emission model in Northeast China is relatively more accurate. The regression coefficient is 0.1217 and the determination coefficient R² of the regression equation is 0.7722. More than 80% of the provinces have an error of less than 25%, meeting the estimation accuracy requirements. (2) From 2012 to 2020, the carbon emissions of county-level towns in Northeast China showed a trend of increasing first and then decreasing from 461.1159 million tons in 2012 to 405.752 million tons in 2020. It reached a peak of 486.325 million tons in 2014. (3) The regions with higher carbon emission growth rates are concentrated in the northern and coastal areas of Northeast China. The areas with low carbon emission growth rates are mainly distributed in some underdeveloped areas in the south and north in Northeast China. (4) Under the effect of the single factor urbanization rate, the added values of the secondary industry and public finance income have higher explanatory power to regional emissions. These factors promote the increase of county carbon emissions. When fiscal revenue and expenditure and the added value of the secondary industry and per capita GDP interact with the urbanization rate, respectively, the explanatory power of these factors on regional carbon emissions will be enhanced and the promotion of carbon emissions will be strengthened. The research results are helpful for exploring the changing rules and influencing factors of county carbon emissions in Northeast China and for providing data support for low-carbon development and decision making in Northeast China.

Moving towards Environmental Sustainability: Can Digital Economy Reduce Environmental Degradation in China?

In the context of environmental sustainability and accelerated digital technology development, China attaches great importance to the prominent role of digital economy in addressing environmental degradation. Utilizing Chinese provincial panel data from 2011 to 2019, this study investigates whether the digital economy can improve China's environmental sustainability proxy by reducing carbon emission intensity. Based on the fixed effects model, the findings reveal that the digital economy has a significant negative effect on carbon emission intensity and the conclusion remains robust after conducting several robustness checks. However, this impact shows regional heterogeneity, which is more effective in resource-based eastern regions and the Belt and Road provinces. Moreover, mediating effect analyses indicate that the transmission mechanisms are energy consumption structure, total factor energy productivity, and green technology innovation. Furthermore, the results based on the spatial Durbin model (SDM) demonstrate that digital economy development has a significant spatial spillover effect. Finally, on the basis of results analysis and discussion, policy recommendations are provided for achieving environmental sustainability.

Price competition and blockchain technology adoption strategies of agents on the digital platform

The rise of digital platforms intensifies the price competition among agents. Agents often use low price strategies to attract consumers. However, the low-price strategy is often filled with false information and consumers perceive the non-truthfulness of the price information. Then, consumers’ trust in agents gradually decreases, which inhibits the growth of online shopping. Blockchain is seen as a solution to the trust crisis between agents and consumers. Our research is based on two competing agents selling the same type of goods on the same platform. We discuss agents’ blockchain technology application strategies in three scenarios, which are defined by whether agents choose to apply blockchain technology to improve consumer trust. The results show that the application of blockchain technology is beneficial to agents only when consumer trust is low. Furthermore, the YN strategy is regarded as a possible equilibrium strategy, which depends on the blockchain application cost and consumer trust. Some extended cases are discussed for post-blockchain consumer welfare, cost-sharing contracts, dishonesty penalties, and variable blockchain costs, and the results show that the analysis in this manuscript is robust. Our findings have important practical significance for promoting the application of blockchain technology and alleviating the problem of price information asymmetry in platform shopping.

The Impact of Green Technology Innovation on Carbon Emissions in the Context of Carbon Neutrality in China: Evidence from Spatial Spillover and Nonlinear Effect Analysis

The Paris agreement is a unified arrangement for the global response to climate change and entered into force on 4 November 2016. Its long-term goal is to hold the global average temperature rise well below 2 °C. China is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 through various measures, one of which is green technology innovation (GTI). This paper aims to analyze the levels of GTI in 30 provinces in mainland China between 2001 and 2019. It uses the spatial econometric models and panel threshold models along with the slack based measure (SBM) and Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index to analyze the spatial spillover and nonlinear effects of GTI on regional carbon emissions. The results show that GTI achieves growth every year, but the innovation efficiency was low. China’s total carbon dioxide emissions were increasing at a marginal rate, but the carbon emission intensity was declining year by year. Carbon emissions were spatially correlated and show significant positive agglomeration characteristics. The spatial spillover of GTI plays an important role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. In the underdeveloped regions in China, this emission reduction effect was even more significant.