Digital Empowerment and Sectoral Energy-Structure Transition: Evidence from Global Production Networks

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Abstract
Digital empowerment has become deeply embedded in global production networks, yet its implications for sectoral energy systems remain insufficiently understood. This study investigates whether digital empowerment is associated with sectoral energy-structure transition and through which channels. Using matched World Input–Output Database accounts for 2000–2014 and applying the Hypothetical Extraction Method (HEM), we measure digital empowerment at the country–sector level and examine its association with sectoral energy-use outcomes. The estimates indicate that digital empowerment is associated with a lower fossil-fuel share and lower total sectoral energy consumption in the full sample, although the associations differ across non-fossil energy categories, sectors, and development stages. Additional channel-based tests show that digital empowerment is associated with lower energy intensity, improved global value-chain positioning, and higher export technological sophistication. Both domestic and foreign digital inputs contribute to this relationship, and manufacturing sectors show a clearer association with lower total energy consumption than service sectors. Developing economies exhibit weaker compositional adjustment than developed economies. These findings provide empirical evidence for integrating digitalization into energy transition strategies and offer practical pathways for aligning digital economic development with sustainable energy objectives.
Funding Information
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (19ZDA054)
  • Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (WUT: 104972025KFYrs0013)

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