IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i4p1746-d1594809.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Research on the Low-Carbon Spatial Spillover Effect Development of the Digital Economy Enabled by New Quality Productivity

Author

Listed:
  • Li Peng

    (Applied Economic Research Centre, Jiangxi Institute of Fashion Technology, Nanchang 330201, China
    Faculty of Business & Law, Taylor’s University, No.1, Jalan Taylor’s, Subang Jaya 47500, Selangor, Malaysia)

  • Paul Anthony Mariadas

    (Faculty of Business & Law, Taylor’s University, No.1, Jalan Taylor’s, Subang Jaya 47500, Selangor, Malaysia)

Abstract

China has commenced a high-quality development phase, necessitating significant promotion of the digital economy (DE), which includes green advancement as its foundation. Transitioning from a DE into high-quality development requires advancing the concept of new quality productivity (NQP), which unequivocally delineates the direction of Chinese socio-economic progress. Therefore, this study developed a new quality productivity indicator model encompassing three components aligning with NQP: (i) scientific and technological, (ii) green, and (iii) digital productivity. The analysis investigated the crucial role of the NQP in achieving the “double carbon” goal within the DE by utilizing panel data from 30 Chinese provinces between 2012 and 2022. Consequently, the DE substantially reduced carbon emissions (CEs) and exhibited a notable spatial spillover effect. The impact coefficient of the DE on CEs is −0.0583, which is significant at the 1% level. The direct effect and indirect effect analysis revealed that the inhibition effect of the DE on regional CEs was −0.0725 and −0.0964, respectively (significant at the 1% level). The heterogeneity outcomes denoted lower carbon emissions in non-resource-based regions due to the DE. Nevertheless, this process did not exhibit the same impact on resource-based regions. Furthermore, the NQP functioned as the intermediary factor in the correlation between DE development and CEs. This outcome then led to three critical recommendations: (i) the complete release of the digital dividend, (ii) enhanced government attention toward low-carbon environmental protection, and (iii) the establishment of a green technology innovation platform to achieve higher rates of NQP development.

Suggested Citation

  • Li Peng & Paul Anthony Mariadas, 2025. "Research on the Low-Carbon Spatial Spillover Effect Development of the Digital Economy Enabled by New Quality Productivity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-22, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:4:p:1746-:d:1594809
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/4/1746/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/4/1746/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huang, Junbing & Wang, Yajun & Luan, Bingjiang & Zou, Hong & Wang, Jun, 2023. "The energy intensity reduction effect of developing digital economy: Theory and empirical evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    2. Huayang Duan & Xuesong Sun, 2024. "Research on Technology Spillover of Digital Economy Affecting Energy Consumption Intensity in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-21, May.
    3. Jiaran Li & Karia Noorliza & Xiaohan Zhang, 2024. "Enhancing Environmental, Social, and Governance Performance through New Quality Productivity and Green Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-23, June.
    4. Changhua Shao & Han Dong & Yuan Gao, 2024. "New Quality Productivity and Industrial Structure in China: The Moderating Effect of Environmental Regulation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-27, August.
    5. Rafia Afroz & Hind Alofaysan & Masahina Sarabdeen & M. D. Muhibbullah & Yahuza Baba Muhammad, 2024. "Analyzing the Influence of Energy Consumption and Economic Complexity on Carbon Emissions: Evidence from Malaysia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-17, June.
    6. Wang, Lianghu & Shao, Jun, 2023. "Digital economy, entrepreneurship and energy efficiency," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    7. Ma, Qiang & Tariq, Muhammad & Mahmood, Haider & Khan, Zeeshan, 2022. "The nexus between digital economy and carbon dioxide emissions in China: The moderating role of investments in research and development," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huang, Chenchen & Lin, Boqiang, 2024. "Digital economy solutions towards carbon neutrality: The critical role of energy efficiency and energy structure transformation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    2. Nan Feng & Mingyue Yan & Mingtao Yan, 2024. "Spatiotemporal Evolution and Influencing Factors of New-Quality Productivity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-20, December.
    3. Lingyu Li & Zhichao Liu, 2024. "Sustainable Evolution of China’s Provincial New Quality Productivity Based on Three Dimensions of Multi-Period Development and Combination Weights," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-17, December.
    4. Luo, Jiahui & Dong, Jingrong & Tan, Zhixiong & Zhang, Haitao & Zhang, Wenqing, 2024. "Relatedness, digital economy and renewable energy product evolution—based on product space perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    5. Du, Zhili & Xu, Jie & Lin, Boqiang, 2024. "What does the digital economy bring to household carbon emissions? – From the perspective of energy intensity," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 370(C).
    6. Wang, Ying & Wang, Yong & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2023. "How does digital economy affect energy poverty? Analysis from the global perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    7. Shubin Wang & Feng Chen, 2025. "Can New Quality Productivity Promote the Carbon Emission Performance—Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-26, January.
    8. Xu, Ru-Yu & Wang, Ke-Liang & Miao, Zhuang, 2024. "The impact of digital technology innovation on green total-factor energy efficiency in China: Does economic development matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    9. Junhong Qu & Xiaoli Hao, 2022. "Digital Economy, Financial Development, and Energy Poverty Based on Mediating Effects and a Spatial Autocorrelation Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-24, July.
    10. Charfeddine, Lanouar & Umlai, Mohamed, 2023. "ICT sector, digitization and environmental sustainability: A systematic review of the literature from 2000 to 2022," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    11. Radoslaw Miskiewicz, 2022. "Clean and Affordable Energy within Sustainable Development Goals: The Role of Governance Digitalization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-17, December.
    12. Ran, Qiying & Yang, Xiaodong & Yan, Hongchuan & Xu, Yang & Cao, Jianhong, 2023. "Natural resource consumption and industrial green transformation: Does the digital economy matter?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    13. Shunbin Zhong & Huafu Shen & Ziheng Niu & Yang Yu & Lin Pan & Yaojun Fan & Atif Jahanger, 2022. "Moving towards Environmental Sustainability: Can Digital Economy Reduce Environmental Degradation in China?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-23, November.
    14. Nan Li & Beibei Shi & Rong Kang, 2023. "Analysis of the Coupling Effect and Space-Time Difference between China’s Digital Economy Development and Carbon Emissions Reduction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-25, January.
    15. Lizhan Cao & Hui Wang, 2022. "The Slowdown in China’s Energy Consumption Growth in the “New Normal” Stage: From Both National and Regional Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-21, April.
    16. Yangjie Huang & Jiali Zhang & Ying Xu & Shuanglei Sun & Yajing Bu & Sihui Li & Yingying Chen, 2024. "College students’ entrepreneurship policy, regional entrepreneurship spirit, and entrepreneurial decision-making," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    17. Ren, Xiaohang & Zeng, Gudian & Zhao, Yang, 2023. "Digital finance and corporate ESG performance: Empirical evidence from listed companies in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    18. Jingrong Tan & Lin Chen, 2022. "Spatial Effect of Digital Economy on Particulate Matter 2.5 in the Process of Smart Cities: Evidence from Prefecture-Level Cities in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-20, November.
    19. Xiaofang Dai & Zhenhua Zhang & Weiming Gan & Dongshou Fan, 2025. "Can Digital Economy Facilitate Household Clean Cooking Fuel Transition? Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-20, January.
    20. Zheng, Li & Yuan, Ling & Khan, Zeeshan & Badeeb, Ramez Abubakr & Zhang, Leilei, 2023. "How G-7 countries are paving the way for net-zero emissions through energy efficient ecosystem?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:4:p:1746-:d:1594809. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.