The digital empowerment promotes synergistic efficiency in regional pollution reduction and carbon emission Reduction—Analysis of the moderating effects of market structure and government behavior

In the era of globalization, tackling challenges in environmental protection and carbon emission control, digital intelligence has become an essential instrument for advancing green development, providing new solutions for pollution reduction and carbon reduction. This paper, using panel data from 258 Chinese cities from 2011 to 2022, investigates how digital intelligence can promote the dual enhancement of pollution and carbon reduction across regions, while also analyzing the effects of market structure and government behavior on this process. The research results show that digital intelligence has made significant contributions to pollution reduction and carbon emissions decrease, particularly in resource-based cities, cities in non-strictly controlled areas, and those facing difficulties in achieving carbon peaking. Furthermore, the study reveals that market segmentation and government competitiveness can amplify the environmental benefits of digital intelligence, while market integration and government environmental focus may impose certain constraints (See Fgure 1 for details). Based on these findings, this paper proposes that policymakers should concentrate on the following areas: enhancing digital intelligence infrastructure, particularly in resource-dependent regions, to promote low-carbon transformation; optimizing market structures through appropriate market segmentation to encourage competition and technological innovation; strengthening government governance and environmental regulatory capacities to ensure the effectiveness of policy implementation; and balancing market integration to prevent environmental regulations from being weakened by market unification.