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Integration of Digitalization and Green Economy

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 1012

Special Issue Editors

College of Economics and Management, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China
Interests: population, resources and environment; data mining and policy simulation
College of Economics and Management, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China
Interests: resource and environmental statistics and econometric analysis; environmental policy evaluation; green finance; agricultural economic theory and policy

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Guest Editor
Asia-Australia Business College, Liaoning University, Shenyang, China
Interests: agricultural environmental economics
School of Economics, Liaoning University, Shenyang, China
Interests: agricultural economics theory and policy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to announce a new Special Issue of the journal Sustainability, entitled "Integration of Digitalization and Green Economy".

The global economic development model is undergoing rapid transformation to address growing environmental pressures and resource constraints. The integration of digitalization and the green economy has emerged as a key driver guiding global economic transition, characterized by significantly enhanced resource efficiency, reduced environmental pollution, and the rise of new green industries. This convergence fosters diverse innovations, including digital twin-driven green production, industrial internet-enabled green manufacturing, smart agriculture for low-carbon transition in farming, big data-supported environmental governance, and AI-optimized resource recycling.

This Special Issue focuses on presenting and highlighting sustainable approaches and practical advancements in integrating digitalization and the green economy. It aims to systematically elucidate how digital empowerment is reshaping production, consumption, and governance models, thereby nurturing new drivers for green development. Scholars are encouraged to provide detailed accounts of technical pathways, model development, and empirical analyses, contributing to the development of a robust and cumulative body of knowledge in this field.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  1. Digitalization for green transition and energy efficiency improvement
  2. Artificial intelligence applications in environmental governance
  3. Digital and smart development pathways for green agriculture
  4. Digital technologies and industrial chain resilience
  5. Digitally supported resource recycling systems
  6. Digital economy and sustainable development
  7. Digital economy and green transition of manufacturing

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Dr. Hongmin Li
Dr. Xiuyi Shi
Dr. Chenyang Liu
Dr. Zhe Zhao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • digital technology
  • artificial intelligence
  • green transition
  • low-carbon development
  • green economy
  • industrial chain
  • energy efficiency
  • smart agriculture

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 309 KB  
Article
The Impact of Digital–Real Integration on Firm Green Technology Innovation: Evidence from Chinese A-Share Listed Companies
by Xiaoli Ma, Die Hu, Feng Zhao and Wanyu Zhang
Sustainability 2026, 18(6), 2880; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18062880 - 15 Mar 2026
Viewed by 346
Abstract
Based on Chinese A-share listed companies’ panel data from 2008 to 2023, we examine the impact of digital–real integration on firm green technology innovation. The empirical results show that digital–real integration can significantly improve firm green technology innovation. Mechanism analysis reveals that digital–real [...] Read more.
Based on Chinese A-share listed companies’ panel data from 2008 to 2023, we examine the impact of digital–real integration on firm green technology innovation. The empirical results show that digital–real integration can significantly improve firm green technology innovation. Mechanism analysis reveals that digital–real integration improves firm green technology innovation by reducing financing constraints, improving productivity and reducing information asymmetry. Heterogeneity analysis results show that the positive effects are more pronounced in private and other non-state-owned firms, large-scale firms and firms with stronger internal control. The study also confirms that government green subsidy, governance quality, intellectual property protection, digital infrastructure and marketization level can enhance the positive effect of digital–real integration on firm green technology innovation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Digitalization and Green Economy)
21 pages, 269 KB  
Article
The Impact of Green Transformation on Corporate Green Investment Efficiency: Evidence from China
by Jiajun Yang, Chunying Zhou, Hao Chen and Aijun Yang
Sustainability 2026, 18(5), 2288; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18052288 - 27 Feb 2026
Viewed by 412
Abstract
As the global shift toward green and low-carbon development deepens, green investment has become a core component driving sustainable economic growth. This study addresses a key gap in the literature by systematically exploring how corporate green transformation affects green investment efficiency at the [...] Read more.
As the global shift toward green and low-carbon development deepens, green investment has become a core component driving sustainable economic growth. This study addresses a key gap in the literature by systematically exploring how corporate green transformation affects green investment efficiency at the micro level. Using data from China’s A-share listed corporations (2007–2022), we innovatively integrate the Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index with an enhanced Richardson model incorporating environmental governance variables. Results demonstrate that green transformation significantly boosts investment efficiency, mainly by alleviating underinvestment. The study makes three key contributions: (1) identifying distinct regional and ownership-based heterogeneity effects; (2) uncovering uncertainty perception and labor employment as dual mediating mechanisms; and (3) verifying digital transformation’s positive moderating role. These findings deliver targeted insights for optimizing green investment strategies during corporate transformation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Digitalization and Green Economy)
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