Impacts of digital technology on energy sustainability: China case study

Energy resources are inseparable from the activities of human society, making the sustainable development of energy a global goal. This study aims to apply quantitative methods to measure the impact of digital technology on energy sustainability. This study explained the connotation of sustainable energy development and analyzed the role of digital technology therein by constructing an evaluation index system for the level of digital technology based on digital infrastructure, the popularization of digital equipment, and the application of digital technology. Then, using Chinese time-series data 2002–2019, the entropy weight technique for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution method was adopted to evaluate China’s digital technology development level. Finally, a vector autoregressive model was established to study the interrelations between China’s digital technology and sustainable energy development based on energy production, supply, consumption, and environmental protection. The results showed that China’s digital technology level has improved significantly since 2002. This has effectively promoted sustainable energy development, as reflected in the growth of the output of the energy industry, drop in energy supply losses, reduced energy consumption, and decrease in energy-related environmental pollution. The latter two have been significantly affected by digital technology, whereas the effects of digital technology on the first two were relatively limited. Moreover, while the effects of digital technology on energy production, supply, and consumption are long-lasting, the effects on energy-related environmental protection are relatively short-lived. In addition, while digital technology has helped China to reduce its SO2 emissions, it has had a limited effect on curbing CO2 emissions. To ensure sustainable energy development, China should take multiple measures to fully realize the benefits of digital technology through diverse environmental regulations and policies.