The green dividend of the digital economy: how information consumption reduces urban carbon emission intensity

This paper investigates the environmental impact of the National Information Consumption Pilot Policy (NICPP), a key Chinese initiative promoting digital economic activities. Using the policy as a quasi-natural experiment, we examine its effect on urban carbon emission intensity (CEI) with a difference-in-differences (DID) model based on a panel dataset of 268 prefecture-level cities in China from 2008 to 2023. The empirical findings indicate that the NICPP significantly lowers urban CEI, and this conclusion is supported by a series of robustness checks. Mechanism analysis suggests that service sector upgrading and green technological innovation are two channels through which information consumption reduces urban CEI, while logistics efficiency strengthens the policy effect by reducing the additional distribution-related emissions generated by the expansion of online consumption. Heterogeneity analysis further shows that the CEI-reducing effect is more pronounced in cities with more advanced digital infrastructure, higher levels of financial development, and cleaner energy consumption structures. This study provides quasi-experimental evidence on the green dividend of information consumption policies and offers policy implications for aligning digital development with urban low-carbon transition.