Digital Economy and Carbon Emission Intensity: Evidence from ASEAN

After the carbon neutrality goal was proposed, the question of how to achieve low-carbon and green development has become the focus of ASEAN countries. The digital economy will play an important role in promoting carbon emission reduction in ASEAN countries. This paper measures the digital economy index of ASEAN countries and explores the impact of the digital economy on carbon emission intensity across 10 ASEAN countries from 2011 to 2020. The results show that the digital economy can reduce the intensity of carbon emissions in ASEAN countries. In addition, the impact of the digital economy on carbon emission intensity will vary depending on the level of economic development, resource endowment, and government financial support capacity. The mechanism analysis shows that the digital economy can ultimately reduce the intensity of carbon emissions by promoting industrial structure upgrading, stimulating technological innovation, and promoting the transformation of energy consumption structure. Based on the above conclusions, specific recommendations are proposed for the digital economy to realize carbon reduction in ASEAN countries.