The strategy to achieve zero‑carbon in agricultural sector: Does digitalization matter under the background of COP26 targets?

Under the background of Conference of the Parties (COP26) targets, how to propose sustainable development policies to achieve net zero emissions is very urgent. Internet development has promoted the intellectualization of agricultural environmental governance in China. This paper adopts DEA method and Tobit model to computes the agricultural energy conservation and emission reduction efficiency, and threshold regression model to study the connection between internet advancement and the China's agricultural energy conservation and emission reduction efficiency. The emergence of the internet has a substantial beneficial influence on agricultural energy conservation and emission reduction efficiency, as demonstrated by empirical findings, and this conclusion holds true even after considering potential endogeneity. Moreover, the estimates of the threshold regression model demonstrate the rise of the internet has a double-threshold effect on China's agricultural green total factor energy efficiency (ATFEE). Specifically, the impact of internet advancement on agricultural energy conservation and emission reduction efficiency exhibits a trend of initially increasing and then declining with the regional industrial structure optimization, development of education, and technology enhancement. Therefore, digitalization takes an important part in achieving zero emissions in the agricultural sector.