Does digital transformation restrict the carbon emission intensity of enterprises? Evidence from listed manufacturing enterprises in China

Abstract Digitalization and greening are key themes in global development, the manufacturing industry, as a major sector of energy consumption and carbon emissions, is in urgent need of transformation to realize energy conservation and emission reduction, digital transformation provides an opportunity for its green development. However, whether digital transformation can restrain the carbon emission intensity (CEI) of enterprises is still controversial. Based on the data of China's A‐share manufacturing listed companies from 2013 to 2020, this paper uses fixed effect model and intermediary effect model to explore the relationship between digital transformation and enterprise CEI and the influence path. the results show that: (1) Digital transformation has significantly reduced the CEI of manufacturing enterprises. (2) Mechanism analysis indicates that green technological innovation and resource allocation efficiency play a chain mediating role in this relationship. (3) Heterogeneity analysis shows that the carbon emission reduction effect of digital transformation is more significant when enterprises belong to an energy‐intensive manufacturing industry or face strong environmental regulations and industry competition. The analysis of this paper not only deepens enterprises' understanding of digital transformation and green development but also provides a policy basis for China to advocate the coordinated development of the digital economy and green economy.