Can digital transformation contribute to high-quality energy development: Evidence from China

As a new engine of technological change, digital transformation has a significant impact on high-quality energy development (HQED). Using Chinese provincial panel data from 2011 to 2024, this study constructs a two-way fixed-effects model to empirically investigate the impact of digital transformation on HQED. We further examine the influence of policy support for digital transformation on HQED. We find that digital transformation significantly contributes to HQED and this finding holds following a series of robustness and endogeneity tests. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive effect is not universal but is primarily observed in the eastern and western regions and in regions with low energy intensity. The effects of digital transformation foundations and digital transformation labor are the most pronounced of the digital transformation sub-indicators. Mechanism analysis reveals that green technological innovation, industrial robot application, and education improvement are key channels through which digital transformation affects HQED. Furthermore, moderating and threshold models reveal that policy support can significantly enhance the positive effects of digital transformation on HQED, and the effect exhibits a nonlinear trend of marginal incrementality as policy support increases. This study provides new insights for synchronizing digitization and HQED, offering policymakers empirical evidence of the value of leveraging digital upgrades as a sustainable driver of energy development.