Xiaoqing Ai

This study employs meta‐analysis to assess the effect of digital technology on new quality agricultural productivity, defined as a systemic construct driven by technological innovation and factor reallocation and encompassing output, efficiency, and green performance. Based on 853 estimates from 48 studies, all effect sizes are converted into partial correlation coefficients. The results show a small positive average effect that remains robust across publication‐bias and sensitivity tests. The positive effect does not vary significantly across digital technology types, productivity measures, transmission mechanisms, region, or analytical scales, but is influenced by climate and environmental risks, temporal contexts, and econometric methods. Climate risk significantly strengthens the contribution of digital technology, particularly in the 2010s, whereas this effect was relatively weak in the 1990s. No significant differences emerge across technology types under climate risk, suggesting that coordinated digital systems may enhance agricultural climate resilience more effectively than individual technologies. This study integrates fragmented microlevel, regional, and cross‐country evidence within a comparable framework, distinguishes average from conditional effects, and incorporates climate risk into research on new quality agricultural productivity.

With the increase in greenwashing, corporate greenwashing governance has become a crucial component of urban environmental management. Industrial clusters are a key form of urban economic organization, yet the mechanisms through which they affect corporate greenwashing remain unclear. This study examines how different types of industrial agglomeration influence corporate greenwashing using a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies. The key findings include the following: (1) Specialized agglomeration inhibits corporate greenwashing through a “supervision” effect generated by intra-industry competition, while diversified agglomeration exacerbates greenwashing via a “collusion” effect arising from inter-industry cooperation. (2) The inhibitory role of specialized agglomeration is amplified under conditions of low public and strong government environmental concern, while the promotional effect of diversified agglomeration becomes more pronounced in contexts of high public and weak government environmental concern. Government environmental concern can be categorized into “general” and “specific” types, with the former being more effective in governing corporate greenwashing. (3) Specialized agglomeration demonstrates superior efficacy in curbing greenwashing among firms with green innovations related to energy-saving, alternative energy production, waste management, and transportation, while diversified agglomeration intensifies greenwashing tendencies in firms without green innovations. (4) Collusive greenwashing under diversified agglomeration yields short-term firm value gains but incurs hidden costs, including elevated operational risks and declining profit margins. This research provides critical insights for promoting corporate green transition and fostering zero-carbon industrial clusters.

Reducing the carbon intensity of well-being (CIWB) is essential for advancing environmental sustainability and socio-economic development. The expansion of digital service trade has emerged as a novel engine of global economic growth and a promising pathway for pollution reduction and carbon mitigation. This study investigates the nonlinear impact of digital service trade on CIWB, identifying an inverted U-shaped relationship—initially increasing CIWB, then reducing it beyond a certain threshold. In the financial digital service trade sector, this effect is mediated by energy structure transition, whereas in the technology-intensive sector, it is driven by green technological innovation. In contrast, digital service trade in the insurance, pension, and audiovisual sectors directly suppresses CIWB. Moreover, rising public environmental awareness helps leverage and strengthen the inhibitory effect of digital service trade on CIWB. Regionally, except for North America (which displays a consistently inhibitory effect), Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania reflect patterns similar to the overall sample. In regions with higher economic and internet development levels, the inverted U-shaped curve is steeper, and its turning point is located further to the left. Temporally, the relationship mirrors the full-sample patterns prior to the enforcement of the Paris Agreement, while an inhibitory effect emerges afterward. These findings offer policy implications for achieving the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.