Improving energy use efficiency (EUE) is a crucial pathway toward achieving China’s dual carbon goals, while digital trade serves as a strategic approach for the country to enhance its openness, necessitating verification of its energy synergy effects. This study examines the policy of a national comprehensive pilot zone for cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) policy as a regulatory practice in digital trade, using panel data from 280 prefecture-level cities spanning 2006–2023 and a multiperiod difference-in-differences model to empirically assess the impact of digital trade on urban EUE. The key findings are fourfold. First, the CBEC pilot zone policy significantly enhances EUE in pilot cities, and this conclusion remains robust after conducting endogenous and multidimensional stability tests. Second, mechanism tests reveal that the CBEC pilot zone policy fosters improved regional EUE by enhancing logistics efficiency, industrial chain resilience, and green technological innovation. Third, heterogeneity analysis indicates that the policy effect is more pronounced for large, nonresource-based cities, regions with well-developed digital infrastructure, areas with intense local government competition, and cities with stringent environmental regulations. Finally, the pilot zone policy generates positive spatial spillover effects on neighboring cities’ EUE, underscoring the potential for regional collaboration. This study provides theoretical mechanisms and empirical evidence for the influence of digital trade on facilitating energy transition, with the identified mechanisms, patterns of regional heterogeneity, and spatial spillover characteristics offering valuable policy insights for the national promotion of CBEC pilot programs and optimizing the green trade governance system. • CBEC pilot zones markedly improve urban energy use efficiency in China. • Policies enhance efficiency via logistics, resilience, and green innovation. • Pilot zones yield positive spillovers to nearby cities. • Stronger impacts appear in large cities with advanced digital infrastructure.
Zhou et al. (Sun,) studied this question.