How does the digital economy promote green Development? Empirical evidence from 282 Chinese Cities

Using data on 282 Chinese cities, we explore the relationship between the digital economy and green development, and the underlying mechanisms. We find a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between digital economy and green development. This suggests that it plays a “creative” function in fostering urban green growth in the early stages of digital economic development. However, too much digital economic expansion will put some strain on the environment and have a “destructive” effect on urban green development. Mechanism analysis reveals two important processes for realizing the dividends of green development via the digital economy: improving technological innovation and reducing resource misallocation. Finally, the impact of the digital economy on green development significantly varies by geographic location and slope levels.