Investigating the role of high-tech industry in reducing China's CO2 emissions: A regional perspective

China currently is the largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the world. Moreover, total energy consumption and CO2 emissions in China will continue to increase due to the rapid advance of industrialization and urbanization. Therefore, vigorously developing the high-tech industry becomes an inevitable choice to reduce CO2 emissions at the moment or in the future. However, most of the existing literature analyzes the impact of the high-tech industry on emission mitigation from an aggregate perspective. Few studies have focused on regional differences in China. Based on 1999-2015 panel data of China's 30 provinces, this study uses the STIRPAT model to explore the influence of the high-tech industry on CO2 emission reduction in China from a regional perspective. The results show that the high-tech industry is beneficial to reduce CO2 emissions. Moreover, the impact intensity of the high-tech industry in the eastern region is higher than those in the central and western regions due to significant differences in R&D funding, R&D personnel investments and high-tech purchase expenditure. The study's findings not only contribute to the existing literature, but also worthy of adequate attention from China's policy makers.