Does the digital economy contribute to China’s energy transition?

The rapid development of digital economy brings new opportunities and challenges. Based on a panel dataset of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, this paper empirically examines the direct, mediating and nonlinear effects of digital economy on energy transition. The study finds the following important conclusions. First, the digital economy is directly and positively related to energy transition. Second, the digital economy promotes energy transition through the channels of marketization, technological innovation, economic growth and environmental regulation. Third, digital economy development has a U-shaped relationship with energy transition. Fourth, environmental regulation, FDI, trade openness and human capital are all positive moderating conditions that promote the positive impact of the digital economy on energy transition. Marketization, green finance, industrial upgrading and urbanization all require certain threshold conditions to be met in order to have a positive moderating effect.