Author ORCID Identifier
Jianxian Wu: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0121-9659
Abstract
While e-government has been widely adopted as a tool for administrative modernization, its role in addressing climate change remains underexplored, particularly at the sub-national level where most environmental policies are implemented. This study examines how county-level digital governance contributes to carbon emission reduction in China. Leveraging the phased rollout of e-government pilot projects as a quasi-natural experiment, we apply a difference-in-differences model to panel data covering more than 2,700 counties. The results indicate that e-government implementation reduces county-level carbon emissions by an average of 8.49 percent. Mechanism analyses, drawing on environmental enforcement records, green patent data, and public complaint filings, reveal that strengthened regulatory enforcement and accelerated green innovation are the principal channels driving these reductions, whereas public participation exerts a comparatively weaker effect. Conservative valuations based on the social cost of carbon suggest economic benefits of 8.08 to 9.54 million USD. These findings position e-government as a scalable ICT4D intervention for climate mitigation, demonstrating that digital governance reforms can yield substantial co-benefits for institutional capacity building and environmental sustainability in developing economies.
Recommended Citation
Wu, J.
(In press).
E-Government as Drivers of Carbon Emission Reduction: Linking Digital Governance to Climate Action.
Information Technology for Development.
Available at:
https://aisel.aisnet.org/itd/vol32/iss3/14