As environmental challenges such as global warming intensify, carbon emission reduction has become a focal point for nations worldwide. As key players in economic activities, enterprises' emission reduction pathways and strategic choices are particularly critical. This study focuses on China's listed industrial enterprises from 2010 to 2022, systematically examining the role and underlying mechanisms of digital transformation in driving corporate carbon emission reduction. By constructing a theoretical analytical framework and conducting empirical tests using ordinary least squares (OLS), the study finds that digital transformation significantly enhances the carbon emission reduction performance of listed industrial enterprises. This conclusion remains valid after robustness tests involving endogeneity treatment, alternative measures for the explained variable, lagged one-period explanatory variables, and exclusion of special samples. Mechanism analysis indicates that corporate digital transformation achieves carbon reduction effects primarily through two pathways: promoting internal green technology development and optimizing supply chain structure while enhancing supply chain coordination efficiency. Further analysis reveals that AI investment intensity positively moderates the relationship between digital transformation and carbon emissions reduction, indicating that the integrated application of digital technologies and AI can amplify emission reduction outcomes. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the promotional effect of digital transformation on carbon emissions reduction is more pronounced in eastern and western regions, non-capital-intensive enterprises, non-high-tech enterprises, and heavily polluting industries, reflecting differentiated characteristics in digitally empowered carbon reduction across different regions and enterprise types. The findings not only provide new empirical evidence and a mechanism explanation for understanding the relationship between digital transformation and corporate environmental performance, but also offer crucial micro-level decision-making support for government departments to formulate differentiated and targeted carbon emission reduction policies. This research holds practical significance for advancing the green and low-carbon transformation of industry.
GAO et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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