Decreasing carbon emission intensity (CEI) has emerged as a crucial strategy for nations to attain low-carbon economic growth. Nevertheless, a definitive conclusion about the correlation between financial development and CEI has not been reached. This research examines the influence of digital inclusive finance (DIF), a novel financial sector, on CEI, and the role of digital technology innovation (DTI) in this impact. Firstly, this study analyzes the influence of DIF on CEI from the perspectives of technology effect and scale effect and proposes the hypothesis that the impact of DIF on CEI is U-shaped. Then, using a double fixed-effect model and a sample of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2021, this study verifies the accuracy of the hypothesis. Subsequently, this study examines the mechanism by which DIF impacts CEI, and the results indicate that DIF can exert a U-shaped influence on CEI via enhancing DTI. Then, this study further investigates the impact of DIF on CEI from three angles: geographical location, human capital level, and green finance. It also explores the geographical spillover effect and spatial heterogeneity by employing the Durbin model. Lastly, drawing from the aforementioned analysis, this report proposes some recommendations.

This study provides a viable path to save energy by means of e-commerce development. Taking the national e-commerce demonstration cities (NEDC) pilots policy implemented in China as a quasi-natural experiment, based on the city panel data from 2006 to 2019, this study applies the multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) method to evaluate the effect of NEDC on energy saving in pilot cities. The empirical results suggest that the NEDC policy obviously contributes to energy conservation. The treated cities reduced energy consumption by 14.2% as a result of the implementation of NEDC, relative to the untreated cities. The conclusions remain valid after conducting robustness tests such as placebo test, instrumental variables regression, propensity score matching-difference-in-difference (PSM-DID), and synthetic difference-in-difference (SDID). The NEDC achieves energy-saving effects through technological innovation, industrial restructuring, and economic agglomeration. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis indicates that, in cities with high levels of human capital, well-developed information infrastructure, non-resource-based cities, and favorable business environments, the impact of NEDC on energy saving is more significant. Analysis of spatial effects shows that the implementation of NEDC has negative externalities, increasing energy consumption in the surrounding area. In the context of the digital economy, this paper presents new insights on the relationship between e-commerce and energy consumption and provides policy direction for countries looking for energy-saving solutions.

Energy and environmental pollution are major global challenges. This paper aims to examine the impact of China’s energy-consumption permit trading scheme (ECPT) on environmental pollution and the influence mechanisms. The study constructs provincial panel data for China from 2006 to 2020 and uses the difference-in-difference (DID) method to investigate the issue. Our results demonstrate that ECPT significantly curbs SO₂ emissions, as confirmed by a series of statistical robustness tests. Specifically, the ECPT has significantly reduced SO₂ by approximately 30.4%. Furthermore, the ECPT reduces SO₂ emissions mainly by optimizing the structure of energy consumption and promoting technological innovation. In addition, the impact of the ECPT on SO₂ emissions is more pronounced in the central and western provinces of China, and in provinces with lower levels of industrial structure and high environmental regulation intensity. This study provides a perspective from a developing country and makes an important contribution to the existing research by exploring the curbing effect of energy policy on SO₂ emissions.

Climate policy uncertainty (CPU) poses formidable challenges to global sustainable development and corporate strategic planning, while intelligent transformation is emerging as a pivotal enabler of organizational sustainability. Using panel data from Chinese A-share listed companies between 2011 and 2022, this study investigates the impact of climate policy uncertainty on intelligent transformation. The results indicate that CPU significantly promotes corporate intelligent transformation, a conclusion that remains robust under various sensitivity tests. Government innovation subsidies, enterprise absorption capacity, and enterprise human capital positively moderate this facilitating effect. A heterogeneity analysis reveals that the effect of CPU on intelligent transformation is more pronounced among firms in sci–tech finance pilot zones, regions with high digital financial inclusion, and those led by CEOs with banking experience. This paper contributes to the literature on climate policy uncertainty by examining its role in corporate intelligent transformation, offering actionable strategies for firms to mitigate climate risks while providing policy insights for developing economies to leverage smart technologies in addressing CPU.

The Chinese government launched the Energy-Consumption Permit Trading Scheme (ECPT) in 2016 as a pilot policy initiative to achieve energy conservation and emissions reduction goals. To generate a quasi-natural experiment, this study used a difference-in-differences (DID) approach with panel data from 2006 to 2020 in China. The goal was to explore the impact of the ECPT policy on the carbon emission performance (CEP) as well as analyze the underlying influence processes. The findings indicate that applying the ECPT has a considerable positive influence on the CEP. In comparison to provinces that did not engage in the pilot program, those that did reported a 4.5% improvement in CEP. We can safely declare that the results remain consistent and trustworthy after undergoing a battery of rigorous tests to assess the robustness of our findings. The mechanism’s evaluation revealed that the ECPT has the potential to improve the CEP, mostly via changing energy consumption patterns and stimulating technological innovation. Furthermore, when we considered heterogeneity, we discovered that factors such as geographical location, the level of green financing development, and the level of environmental regulation may affect the ECPT policy effects.