Exploring the effect of new-type urbanization (NTU) on urban carbon abatement is of great practical significance for promoting urban green construction and coping with the challenge of global climate change. This study used data from 250 cities in China from 2008 to 2020 and constructed the NTU evaluation indicator system from five dimensions. We used classical panel regression models to examine the effects of NTU on urban CO₂ emissions, and further used spatial econometric models of SEM, SAR, and SDM to identify the spatial spillover effects of NTU on urban CO₂ emissions. The main results are that China’s NTU and CO₂ emissions are generally rising, and NTU has a significantly negative effect on urban CO₂ emissions, with an impact coefficient of −0.9339; the conclusions still hold after subsequent robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that NTU’s carbon abatement effect is more pronounced in resource-based cities, old industrial areas, and cities with lower urbanization levels and higher innovation levels. Mechanism analysis shows that improving urban technological innovation and optimizing resource allocation are important paths for realizing urban CO₂ emission reduction. NTU’s effect on urban CO₂ emissions has a noticeable spatial spillover. Our findings provide policy makers with solid support for driving high-quality urban development and dual-carbon targets.

Digitalization and greening are two major characteristics of economic and social development, and promoting the deep synergy of these two factors has significant practical relevance for employment. However, the question of whether synergy between digitalization and greening promotes or hinders employment has not been answered in the literature. Therefore, a synergistic framework was first constructed for urban greening and digitalization based on green pulling and the digital empowerment mechanism. By using data from 281 cities in China from 2011 to 2021, the synergistic effects of digitalization and greening on employment and its underlying mechanisms were explored in this study. The findings revealed that (1) the synergistic development of these two factors can indeed promote employment, and this result remains valid after numerous robustness tests are performed. (2) Mechanism analysis revealed that the synergy can enhance employment by promoting regional innovation and entrepreneurship and increasing human capital investment. (3) Heterogeneity analysis showed that there was a more significantly positive effect on employment in the tertiary industry, in eastern and central regions, and among governments with a greater preference for innovation. (4) Further research has shown that this synergy has a prominent spatial spillover effect on employment, and it remains valid after the matrix is replaced. These results offer policy references for fully unleashing the employment-creating effect of the synergy between digitalization and greening and thereby achieving high-quality development.

The in-depth discussion and analysis of the synergistic effect of new-type urbanization, greening and digitalization (NUGD) is important for the achievement of sustainable social, ecological and economic development. Therefore, in this study, an evaluation index system composed of these three subsystems was constructed for Chinese cities from 2011 to 2021. The comprehensive and collaborative development levels of each subsystem were measured by means including the entropy weight method and the coupling coordination model, respectively. Then, methods such as ESDA and the Dagum Gini coefficient were applied to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution and spatial differences in the triple synergy effect of the NUGD system in Chinese cities. Finally, the constraining factors of the triple synergy effect were revealed using the obstacle degree model. The findings demonstrated the following: (1) Overall, the NUGD subsystems and their comprehensive levels were increasing, with moderate overall development levels. (2) The synergistic development of the NUGD system exhibited an upward trend. Spatially, the synergistic development level showed distinct differentiation, being higher in the east and lower in the west. The multidimensional dynamic variation characteristics obtained through kernel density estimation revealed that the triple synergy level exhibits high stability. (3) The differences within the east and between the eastern and western areas were the largest, with the intensity of transvariation as the main source. (4) The five criterion layers, including social and spatial urbanization variables, were the key constraints that affected the triple synergy of the NUGD in Chinese cities, and the restrictive role of factors such as the proportion of urban construction land and the per capita postal business volume should not be ignored. This study provides a valuable reference and decision-making guidance to promote China’s acceleration toward a new urbanization path supported by both digitalization and green transformation.