Impact of green innovation on carbon reduction in China

Abstract

Green innovation directly encompasses the two major concepts of green and innovation in the new development concepts, which provides a powerful driving force to support Chinese-style modernisation. This paper empirically tests the relationship between green innovation and carbon emission intensity using a double fixed effects model. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China, the mediation effect model of “green innovation-big data-carbon emission” is constructed. The result shows that green innovation has a noticeable direct negative effect on urban carbon emission intensity. The conclusions are robust after considering measurement errors and endogenous problems. Furthermore, it is found that big data plays a significant role in strengthening the relationship between green innovation and carbon emission intensity. The findings in this study not only advance the study on green innovation and carbon emissions but also provide a new perspective on the role of big data.