Abstract: At present, China's digital economy is booming, and at the same time, China is vigorously promoting urban low-carbon development. Then, can the digital economy promote urban low-carbon development? Using the panel data of 284 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2021, this paper empirically examines the impact of digital economy on urban low-carbon development on the basis of measuring the level of urban low-carbon development and the level of urban digital economy development. The findings show that digital economy can significantly promote urban low-carbon development. The analysis of the impact mechanism reveals that the digital economy can promote urban green technology innovation and reduce urban energy consumption intensity, which can improve urban carbon total factor productivity, and then promote urban low-carbon development. The moderating effect analysis indicates that the intensity of environmental regulation can enhance the promotion effect of digital economy on urban low-carbon development. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the digital economy contributes more to urban low-carbon development in the non-resource-based cities or cities with a non-coal-based energy consumption structure. For this reason, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of digital infrastructure, promote the rapid development of the digital economy, and give full play to the facilitating effect of the digital economy on urban low-carbon development.

Key words: digital economy, green technology innovation, energy consumption intensity, carbon total factor productivity, urban low-carbon development