Digitalization and carbon emission reduction technology R&D in a Stackelberg model

This paper constructs a four-stage sequential game model considering digitalization and carbon emission reduction decisions, examines the effects of digitalization on firms' emission reduction and carbon emission reduction technology R&D, and analyzes the optimal digitalization level. The results show that emissions reduction is correlated with the digitalization level, the cost-reduction effects, and the carbon tax rate; technology R&D benefits from digitalization support; there exists an optimal digitalization level that is nonlinearly affected by the carbon tax rate, and the digitalization level that satisfies the maximization of social welfare is higher, so the government should provide digitalization incentives.