The spatial spillover effect of ICT development level on regional CO2 emissions--Evidence from Chinese cities

Information and Communication Technology plays an essential role in affecting CO2 emissions and promoting green and sustainable development. This paper estimates the CO2 emissions of 259 cities in China from 2011 to 2017 and uses the spatial Durbin model to empirically analyze the spatial spillover effect of the level of ICT development affecting regional CO2 emissions and to further analyze its direct, indirect, and total effects. The study finds that: (1) There is a spatial correlation between regional CO2 emissions and ICT development level, and the CO2 emissions of Chinese cities show high-high or low-low clustering characteristics; (2) The level of ICT development can significantly increase CO2 emissions in the region and significantly suppress CO2 emissions in neighboring regions, and after a series of robustness tests, the findings of the study still hold; (3) The mechanism of action shows that ICT can influence regional CO2 emissions through the three elements included in it: infrastructure, application level, and service level; (4) The effect of ICT on regional CO2 emissions varies by city resource allocation and level of science and education.