Digital–Green Policy Synergy and Urban Energy Intensity: Evidence from Chinese Cities

Digitalization can either reduce energy use or generate rebound effects, depending on how digital development is coordinated with environmental and energy objectives. This study examines the relationship between digital–green policy synergy and urban energy intensity using a balanced panel of 282 Chinese cities from 2007 to 2022. We construct a nonlinear digital–green policy synergy index (QSI) from policy attention measures and estimate city and year fixed effects models with complementary robustness and inference procedures. A one-unit increase in QSI is associated with a 0.0537-log-point, or approximately 5.2%, decline in energy intensity. The association is stronger in cities with higher energy intensity, lower initial spatial inequality, and stronger initial digital policy capacity. An accounting decomposition indicates that the estimated relationship is primarily associated with lower values of the archived energy use measure rather than GDP expansion. QSI is also associated with lower nighttime light spatial inequality. The findings therefore identify a robust policy-relevant conditional relationship, rather than a definitive causal effect, and highlight the need to align digital initiatives with energy and environmental objectives.