Research on the impact of higher education development and digital economy on urban carbon emissions in the context of low-carbon economy

Abstract With the rapid progress of industrialization and economic development, carbon emission has become one of the main causes of climate change. This paper will discuss the relationship between the factors affecting carbon emissions, with a view to providing readers with an in-depth understanding of the issue and suggesting some strategies for coping with climate change and reducing carbon emissions. The paper studies the impact of digital economy and higher education development on urban carbon emissions (UCE) through spatial measurement models and mediating effect model, and finds that: (i) There is significant spatial autocorrelation of UCE. (ii) Digital economy and higher education development have significant spatial spillover effect in suppressing carbon emissions, digital economy and higher education development have negative spatial spillover effects on UCE in neighboring regions, and from the point of view of the extent of the role of the carbon reduction effect is more significant compared to the region on the neighboring regions. (iii) Higher education development mediating effect exists.