The effect of information infrastructure on total carbon emissions and intensity: evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China

This study takes the "Broadband China" demonstration cities policy as a shock to information infrastructure development, and systematically evaluates the effects of the policy on the total carbon emissions and intensity in 280 Chinese cities using the multi-period difference-in-differences method. The research results show that the policy significantly reduced total CO2 emissions and intensity, especially in cities with a higher economic development level and population size, as well as the eastern and northern cities. The mechanism analysis suggests that the policy can reduce carbon emissions through promoting fiscal science and technology expenditure, green innovation, and tertiary agglomeration. The total mediating effect of the three aspects for abating total carbon emissions and intensity is 24.69% and 23.76%, respectively. The further discussion shows that the policy also reduced environmental pollution, indicating that information infrastructure can play a synergistic role in reducing environmental pollution and CO2 emissions.