The nexus between electronic commerce and environmental pollution: The roles of energy efficiency and resource consumption

The platform economy is growing fast in the world. Its expansion, exemplified by industry giants like Amazon, Airbnb, and Uber, is reshaping societal lifestyles and commercial businesses. However, its environmental impacts are uncertain. Currently, the relationship between electronic commerce (e-commerce) activities and environmental pollution has attracted a lot of attention. This paper attempts to construct a comprehensive theoretical model to investigate the nexus between e-commerce and regional environmental pollution, with a particular focus on the effects of air pollution and waste pollution. Fixed effect models and China's provincial data during the period from 2008 to 2018 are employed to examine the roles of energy efficiency and resource consumption in such a nexus. The findings suggest that the development of e-commerce is linked to a reduction in regional air pollution through the channel of improving transportation energy efficiency. The results also show that e-commerce is associated with an increase in regional waste pollution due to the mechanism of resource consumption in the express packaging industry. As a result, the relationship between e-commerce and environmental pollution is quite complex at the regional level, transcending a binary distinction of solely positive or negative impacts. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the complex environmental impacts of e-commerce and helps governments design more efficient and targeted policies to reduce regional pollution.