What does the digital economy bring to household carbon emissions? – From the perspective of energy intensity

China's carbon emissions from households have increased with the growth of the consumption scale. To accomplish the ambitious goals of reducing emissions, carbon emission reduction on the household side should not be neglected. Based on the 2012–2018 CFPS database, This paper examines the relationship between household carbon emissions(HCEs) and the digital economy by analyzing data on household consumption expenditure and carbon emission coefficients. Utilize instrumental variables and the “Broadband China” natural experiment to conduct robustness tests, and further clarify how the digital economy influences direct and indirect household carbon emissions. The study finds that (1) Direct HCEs witness an increase while indirect HCEs experience a decrease due to the digital economy. (2) The digital economy increases direct HCEs by expanding the consumption scale, but surprisingly, the digital economy has not made a significant impact on enhancing residents' environmental awareness. (3) When analyzing indirect HCEs, we introduced a macro perspective, and it is found that the digital economy results in a decline in indirect HCEs primarily due to a reduction in the energy intensity of the whole industry. This paper provides new evidence on the digital economy and its impact on carbon emissions at the household level, which is instructive for understanding the interaction between the production and consumption sides in achieving carbon neutrality and how to promote emission reduction on the consumption side.