The digital economy based on digital technology is an important force for high-quality economic growth and industrial transformation, and has great potential for value creation. Based on the data of 30 provinces in China from 2007 to 2017, this paper uses entropy method to calculate the industrial green transformation (IGT), and empirically analyzes the impact of Digital economy on IGT. The DE can significantly reduce IGT of local and neighboring areas after excluding the influence of macro system factors and replacing the spatial weight matrix. The DE can indirectly reduce the IGT by accelerating the accumulation of human capital, and green technology innovation. The impact of digital economy on IGT is a non-linear relationship. With the further improvement of environmental regulation, financial development and intellectual property protection, the role of digital economy in IGT is more obvious. To this end, it is necessary to speed up the construction and improvement of digital infrastructure, build an integrated layout of "digital infrastructure", give full play to the radiating role of the digital economy, and implement differentiated development paths based on regional comparative advantages.

The digital transformation provides an opportunity for the development of a green and low-carbon economy. This study used panel data collected from 30 Chinese provinces between 2011 and 2018, and assessed the impact of digitization (Dig) on environmental efficiency (EE). Quantile regression is employed to scrutinize the evolution of the marginal effect. From the perspectives of population and institutional factors, this study empirically investigates nonlinear relationships and potential mechanisms using Hansen threshold and mediation models. The findings reveal several key insights. Overall, levels of digitization and environmental efficiency (EE) are increasing with regional dispersion expansion, indicating a “polarization” characteristic. The impact of digitization on EE exhibits noticeable stage and regional heterogeneity. Analysis of population factors reveals that population structure, population size, and human capital trigger a sharp “marginal increase” of positive effects with single thresholds of 0.8155, 7.2284, and 11.0497, respectively. Analysis of institutional factors highlights the significance of fiscal policy quality (tax proportion), education expenditure, and tax system structure as important intermediaries. Finally, this paper presents corresponding policy implications.

When human civilization is thriving to the rapid economic and social development, the deteriorating ecological environment has also pressured the society to put environmental protection issues on the agenda future development. Therefore, green innovation is not merely a requirement for a corporate’s long-term development but the basics of sustainable development of human society. As an objective indicator to measure a company's commitment to social responsibility, corporate environmental responsibility has an extremely important impact on a corporate's business philosophy and innovation strategy. However, the existing literature rarely studies between these two variables. This paper collects the data of listed companies from 2010 to 2019 and empirically tests the impact of corporate environmental responsibility on corporate green innovation. The study finds that corporate environmental responsibility can promote green innovation by reducing financing constraints, improving corporate governance and increasing government subsidies and R&D investment, and the result is still significant under a series of robustness checks. The placebo test suggests that the Jiangsu enterprise responsibility construction pilot has facilitated the development of enterprises' green innovation to a great extent. The conclusions enrich existing literature on corporate environmental responsibility and corporate green innovation, providing implications for government policy orientation, social atmosphere guidance and corporate strategic decision-making process.

With the intensification of the global ecological crisis, promoting green development has become a key path to achieve sustainable development. Based on the panel data of 30 provincial-level administrative regions in China from 2011 to 2022, this paper systematically examines the impact of scientific and technological talent agglomeration on regional green development and its mechanism of action. The study constructs a comprehensive evaluation index system of regional green development level, adopts location entropy to measure the degree of scientific and technological talent concentration, and empirically analyses it by using the fixed effect model, mediation effect model and moderating effect model. The study finds that (1) scientific and technological talent concentration has a significant promotion effect on green development, and this conclusion still holds after various robustness tests and endogeneity treatment; (2) from the perspective of regional heterogeneity, the green development effect of scientific and technological talent concentration is significant in the eastern region, while it is not significant in the central and western regions; from the perspective of period heterogeneity, the promotion effect of scientific and technological talent concentration is more significant after the introduction of ‘The Outline of National Innovation-Driven Development Strategy’; from the perspective of Internet development, the promotion effect is more significant; from the perspective of the heterogeneity of period, the promotion effect is more significant; from the perspective of heterogeneity of the level of Internet development, scientific and technological talent agglomeration shows a stronger promotion effect in regions with a lower level of Internet development; (3) the mechanism test shows that scientific and technological talent agglomeration can promote green development through two paths of enhancing the level of public environmental concern and promoting green technological innovation, and at the same time, the level of marketisation and the government's attention to scientific and technological talent can positively regulate this kind of promotion. Based on the conclusions of the study, this paper puts forward policy suggestions to systematically improve the level of regional scientific and technological talent concentration, and to give full play to the effects of external supervision and technological innovation.

Improving energy conservation and emission reduction (ECER) efficiency is a virtuous cycle of economic development and environmental protection, promoting countries around the world towards sustainable development. As a strategic technology leading a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, the large-scale application of artificial intelligence (AI) is driving the transformation of manufacturing production methods, which is increasingly essential for improving the effectiveness of environmental governance. This study aims to analyze the impact of AI technology on ECER in the manufacturing industry, as well as the specific impact paths and heterogeneity. We contribute to previous literature by measuring ECER of Chinese manufacturing sector using the EBM model. The mediation effect model is used to analyze the impact mechanism between AI technology and ECER. The results indicate that AI promotes the ECER efficiency in the manufacturing sector. The positive effects are attributed to the development of energy consumption structure and technological innovation. The impact of AI on ECER exhibits an evident heterogeneous effect across industries with different pollution intensity, R&D intensity and labor intensity, and ownership dominant industry. Additionally, higher levels of environmental regulation lead to an increase in the positive effects of robot promotion on ECER. The research conclusions provide important reference for understanding the relationship between AI technology and ECER, and contribute a new way to promote environmental governance and carbon neutrality.

With the continuous advancement of technological revolution and industrial transformation, digital finance supported by big data and artificial intelligence has become an important engine for promoting carbon neutrality. We measured the industrial structure transformation index (ISU) of 30 provinces in China, and discussed the spatial spillover effect and transmission mechanism between digital finance and ISU using the spatial Durbin model. The research results demonstrate that the digital finance development can significantly improve the local ISU. Interestingly, the impact of digital finance on the ISU of adjacent areas has a significantly negative spatial spillover effect, which still exists under the different spatial weight matrix. Digital finance can improve ISU by improving green technology innovation, upgrading industrial structure, and alleviating capital allocation. We also found that the higher degree of marketization and environmental regulation can increase the positive influences of digital finance on ISU. This research proves the effectiveness of the digital finance in improving energy efficiency, and it encourages policymakers around the world to rely on digital finance to promote ecological governance and achieve high-quality economic development.

Based on China's 30 provincial panel data from 2006 to 2018, this paper uses the spatial Durbin model to empirically study the influence path and transmission mechanism of financial development on regional technological innovation, and introduce digital finance environment, marketization degree, and government environmental management as an adjustment variable to verify its regulating effect on financial development and regional technological innovation. The study found that the overall promotion of digital finance to local technological innovation is not significant. Besides, the characteristics of ownership discrimination and weak risk appetite in the bank's medium and long-term credit market have led to its failure to promote regional technological innovation. In contrast, the stock market and bond market in direct financing channels have enhanced local innovation capabilities. When the external environmental system is used as the adjustment variable, the results show that an excellent digital finance development, marketization degree, and government environmental management can effectively and positively regulate the effect of financial development and technological innovation.

As governments worldwide grapple with the urgent need to mitigate climate change, understanding the nuanced relationship between fiscal targets and environmental innovation is crucial for crafting effective policy frameworks. Green technological advancement stands as the cornerstone of enterprise competitiveness, driving improvements in both economic prosperity and environmental sustainability. Government fiscal policies play a pivotal role in shaping the landscape of green transformation within enterprises, particularly through the establishment of fiscal revenue targets. Drawing upon data from prefecture-level cities and enterprise records, this study employs empirical analysis utilizing a fixed effects model and instrumental variable method. Our findings underscore the significant impact of fiscal revenue target setting on the trajectory of green technological advancement within enterprises. Specifically, the imposition of fiscal revenue growth targets exerts a dampening effect on the propensity for green technological advancement among enterprises. Notably, this disincentive is particularly pronounced among state-owned enterprises, as well as those with lower and moderate returns on capital, and those characterized by labor-intensive operations. Furthermore, our research delves into the underlying mechanisms of this inhibitory effect. We ascertain that the pressure associated with fiscal revenue growth targets hampers corporate green technological advancement by amplifying tax burdens and exacerbating financing constraints. In light of these findings, our study not only contributes to the theoretical understanding of the interplay between government fiscal policies and corporate innovation but also provides empirical evidence to inform strategies aimed at reconciling the imperative of fiscal revenue growth with the imperative of fostering green technological advancement within enterprises. In the broader context of governmental efforts to address climate change, this research underscores the importance of aligning fiscal policies with environmental objectives.

With the strengthening of China's economic power and the further implementation of China's open-door policy, China's outward investment has increased year by year. Some international comments are only concerned about the former and there are some public opinions about China's outward investment threatening the host country's environmental quality. This paper takes the carbon emissions of 49 countries along the “Belt and Road” and the acceptance of China's outward FDI as samples, studies the impact of China's outward FDI on the carbon emissions of the relevant countries, and comes to the conclusion that: China's outward FDI is a major factor in China's economic development. It is concluded that China's OFDI increases the total carbon emissions of the countries along the Belt and Road while decreasing the carbon intensity, and the impact is carried out through the three major paths of economic scale, technological level and structural effect.