Does Digital Technology Promote Green Innovation Performance?

The acceleration of digital technology development is an important strategic choice to realize the transformation of green innovation. Prior research focuses on the mechanism by which artificial intelligence technology promotes economic growth but ignores the impact of digital technology on green innovation performance. Using panel data on 30 regions in China from 2003 to 2019, this paper examines the impact of digital technology on green innovation performance. The results are as follows: (1) Digital technology can significantly promote green innovation performance. After a series of robustness tests, the conclusion is still valid. (2) Digital technology improves green innovation performance through the green technology upgrading effect, cost reduction effect, and green resource allocation optimization effect. (3) Heterogeneity test results show that in regions with high human capital, high R&D intensity, and strong environmental regulation, the improvement effect of digital technology on green innovation performance is more obvious. These findings not only enrich the literature on digital technology and green innovation performance but also serve as a reference for governmental departments as they optimize their strategy for developing digital technology and achieving green economic development.