The impact of smart city construction on achieving peak carbon neutrality: Evidence from 31 provinces in China

Amidst the intensification of global warming concerns, addressing climate change has become an urgent imperative, with carbon dioxide emissions standing as the primary driver of the greenhouse effect. This study delves into the relationship between smart city development and carbon emissions in China, leveraging panel data spanning 2012–2021 across 31 provincial units for empirical analysis. The study posits a negative correlation between smart city construction and carbon emissions. To comprehensively gauge the level of smart city development, a weighted evaluation index was constructed using the panel entropy weighting-topsis method. Employing fixed effects, random effects, high-dimensional fixed effects, and two-step system GMM models, the study aims to comprehensively assess the impact of smart city construction levels on carbon emissions. Results reveal that heightened smart city construction levels coincide with reduced carbon emissions, thus substantiating the research hypothesis.