Review of the Intrinsic Mechanism between Digital Technology Innovation and Green Consumption Upgrading ()
1. Introduction
Green consumption should be used as a way to achieve the goal of “dual carbon” and a demand-side means to promote domestic demand growth and improve the quality of economic development. Green consumption in the traditional sense has the disadvantage of “the attitude-behavior gap”, and the knowledge about environmental protection may not promote consumers’ long-term low-consumption behavior. The lack of information on green goods, difficult identification and insufficient incentives still hinder the transformation of consumption to green (Yang & Zhong, 2023). Nowadays, digital technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain have been rapidly updated and widely used in practical scenarios. Digital means are integrating green products from production to recycling, thus constituting the most potential core driving force in the evolution of green consumption system.
At present, there has been a lot of discussion on the connection between digital technology and green consumption. Foreign countries have considered the transformation of sustainable consumption from the perspective of digitalization earlier, and explained the reshaping effect of digital technology on consumers’ green decision-making with various theories (Kasemsap, 2017). There are empirical studies in China on the promotion of green consumption by the digital economy, and there are relatively complete affirmative arguments on the positive empowerment of digital technology (Fan & Wang, 2024). However, the current discussions mostly focus on the analysis of individual technologies or simple linear logic, and there is still a lack of systematic research that uniformly summarizes and organizes the entire process of digital technology promoting green consumption upgrade, its positive and negative impacts, and heterogeneous characteristics. In view of this, this paper intends to summarize the existing achievements in logical order, provide basic concepts and theoretical support, analyze various mechanisms of digital technology promoting green consumption, point out the research status and defects, and put forward future ideas, with the aim of forming a complete theoretical framework for digital empowerment of green consumption.
This article takes China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) as the main source of Chinese literature. The search period is from 2016 to the present. The search topics include digital technology innovation, green and low-carbon transformation, carbon footprint accounting, e-commerce transactions, carbon benefit incentives, and related research on low-carbon, conservation, circular consumption and ecological consumption. After screening and eliminating duplicate and low-relevance literature, 24 Chinese articles were obtained, among which 23 were from China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and 1 was a Chinese article not from CNKI. In addition, one English article and one authoritative report from Economic Daily were supplemented as supporting materials. All the materials were sorted out and analyzed using the thematic induction method to ensure that the review was objective and well-grounded.
2. Core Concept Definition and Basic Theory
1) Definition of core concepts
Digital technology innovation. The digital technology innovation referred to in this article encompasses two levels: the innovation of underlying digital technology research and development and the innovation of scenario-based applications. The underlying technologies include big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing. Application innovation involves embedding digital technologies throughout the entire consumption chain, including green product design, carbon footprint accounting, supply chain management, e-commerce transactions, waste product recycling, and carbon benefit incentives, to form a digital green business model. Its core function is to make environmental data recordable, traceable, quantifiable and verifiable, reducing the information and transaction costs of the green market.
Green consumption upgrading. The green consumption upgrading studied in this paper is not equal to the purchase of green products in a narrow sense, but to the overall transformation of the residential consumption system into low-carbon, economical, circular and high-quality. Its basic connotation can be summarized into three core dimensions. First, the change in product structure, that is, the proportion of green and low-carbon goods in consumption expenditure is constantly increasing. The second is the renewal of consumption forms, the original one-time possession of consumption is giving way to sharing, recycling or service-oriented low-carbon way. The third is the improvement of consumption value. Individuals take the initiative to bring ecological factors into consumption thinking and develop long-term, natural low-carbon habits. The upgrading of green consumption itself is the result of the interaction between supply and demand, and the growth of green demand in consumption can also promote green innovation in production and promote a virtuous cycle of industrial transformation and consumption progress (Li et al., 2026).
2) Basic theory
At present, the basic theories of the relationship between digital technology and green consumption upgrading have been summarized in four classic paradigms, which serve as the basis for the mechanism analysis in this paper. The theory of information asymmetry is just suitable for the discussion on the market failure of green consumption (Chen, 2016). The assumption of product trust is easy to cause enterprise green-washing or adverse selection in the market, but technologies such as digital traceability and digitization of carbon labels can alleviate the information gap and correct the market failure. Theory of Planned Behavior makes a more detailed explanation of individual consumption, improves cognition, promotes social norms and reduces behavior resistance to promote green consumption, so it is better to solve the “attitude-behavioral gap” (Chen & Li, 2025). The S-O-R theory regards digital technology as an external environmental stimulus and uses its influence on internal factors such as cognition and trust to explain the realization process of green consumption (Ding, 2025). Moreover, the rebound effect theory clearly defines the dual role of digital technologies: digitization brings improvements in unit efficiency, but a rebound effect exists—efficiency gains lead to lower costs, stimulating increased consumption, so total emissions may not necessarily decline (Zhang et al., 2024). For green consumption, digital technology is a double-edged sword. The growth of technological efficiency can reduce costs, that is, lower resource consumption and make individual items more low-carbon. But at the same time, it also makes consumption more convenient and cheaper, that is, it may promote more consumption and increase the total carbon emissions. This has obvious explanatory value for the paradox of green consumption (pursuing green means but not necessarily achieving green results).
3. The Intrinsic Mechanism of Digital Technology Innovation Driving the Upgrading of Green Consumption
Based on the existing literature, digital technology innovation mainly drives the upgrading of green consumption through three parallel paths: quality improvement on the supply side, cognitive incentives on the demand side, and optimization of market systems. These three paths interact with each other, forming a two-way feedback loop between supply and demand.
1) Supply-side mechanism: Digital technology empowers the green supply chain to expand the effective supply of high-quality green products
The problems faced by traditional green supply chains, such as data fragmentation, high difficulty in carbon accounting, high green production costs and scarcity of high-quality resources, are objective realities and cannot well meet the demands of green consumption. After digital technology is fully applied in various fields, the entire green industrial chain and even the supply chain can be redesigned to achieve precise management throughout the product process. The Internet of Things (IoT) and industrial Internet can provide real-time statistics on actual energy consumption and emissions. Big data and AI can be used to improve product concepts or manufacturing methods, reducing the carbon footprint per unit of product to a relatively low level. Blockchain technology can also fully record and verify information on raw material procurement, manufacturing, and logistics, ensuring that the facts related to green products are not misinterpreted, absent, or fabricated (Zhou et al., 2023).
On the one hand, managing the green transformation of enterprises in a digital way can reduce the cost of trial and error, and is conducive to the growth of green total factor productivity, so as to develop green products in multiple categories and in large quantities to meet the needs of consumption (Chu & Li, 2025). From another perspective, digital traceability serves as a reliable source of data for green certification and carbon labels, which can effectively address issues such as the difficulty in distinguishing the authenticity of green products and enhance credibility (Zhou et al., 2023). Digital platforms have more closely integrated production and sales. Green e-commerce and live-streaming marketing help deliver green products to grassroots markets, narrowing the gap in the availability of green consumption between urban and rural areas (Fan & Wang, 2024). The expansion of supply, improvement in quality and closer proximity to the terminal sales of green products precisely form the foundation for the upgrading of green consumption.
2) Demand-side mechanism: Information visualization, explicit social norms and quantitative behavioral incentives, reshaping the decision-making logic of consumers
The demand-side reform should become the basic idea of green consumption upgrading in the digital era. Making a fuss about information, guiding by norms and encouraging by quantitative means can unify the decision-making and action of green consumption and better solve the separation problem of attitude and behavior.
Firstly, mechanisms related to information visualization can be used to reduce the difficulty of green information recognition. The environmental impact involved in the traditional way is abstract and difficult to know, so it is difficult for consumers to understand the actual emission reduction significance of green products. Nowadays, with the help of visualization methods developed by big data and AI, carbon footprints, energy consumption or pollution situations can be written as clear figures or graphs, and the corresponding environmental costs can be displayed in shopping scenarios, making the previously hidden ecological burden transparent and providing a comparable basis for the green attributes of various products. This makes it more time- and labor-saving for consumers to search for and judge information (Chen & Li, 2025). Generative AI and AR/VR immersive means help describe the environmental impact of the whole life cycle of products, which is conducive to consumers’ deeper understanding of green value and promotes the formation of green consumption (Du et al., 2022a).
Secondly, the mechanism of explicit social norms can promote group identification and reputation incentives. From the perspective of behavioral economics, social norms themselves have a great significance in promoting green behavior, but it is difficult to directly observe the group’s low-carbon status in the past, and social norms are mostly treated as publicity purposes. The digital platform summarizes and aggregates green consumption data, lists group low-carbon index and individual green records, enables individuals to enter the group in the form of reference system, promotes green consumption through social identity, reputation influence and conformity psychology, and turns ideologically feasible into collective behavior (Sun et al., 2026). The green evaluation or low-carbon content recognition involved in social media makes the communication effect more obvious (Song, 2025).
Thirdly, quantifying behaviors and introducing immediate incentives is conducive to forming a sustainable low-carbon closed loop. In the form of ant forest, carbon account and carbon universal benefit, digital means can include green travel, use of old things, no use of paper, energy-saving household appliances and other scattered low-carbon behaviors into statistics, and use the obtained carbon value or green energy for consumption and service transactions, so that the original positive externality of green consumption becomes the actual benefits that individuals can enjoy. So as to overcome barriers such as spillover of green consumption benefits and insufficient individual motivation (Feng & Wang, 2026). Micro-empirical analysis shows that game-type feedback and immediate rewards are effective factors to promote long-term green consumption, reduce one-time or short-term purchase phenomenon, and cultivate and guide long-term green lifestyle (Du et al., 2022b).
3) Market mechanism: Optimize the allocation of green market resources and improve the circular consumption ecosystem
Digital technology innovation has improved green market transactions and promoted the sharing economy, second-hand circulation, and the emergence of green consumption in the form of rent and purchase on behalf of buyers. Relying on the digital platform, it is easy to find the trading objects of idle items, which is conducive to the circulation of used goods, makes full use of product life, controls the waste of resources at a low level, and changes the consumption orientation from “Possession-based consumption” to “usage-based consumption” (Lu et al., 2018). At the same time, the data involved (about recycling, dismantling and resource utilization) are completely connected by digital means, and the “Consumption-Recycling-Regeneration-Re-manufacturing” becomes a closed loop (Qing et al., 2025), from which circular consumption is launched and there is more space for the upgrading of green consumption.
From the perspective of market competition, digital technology is an aid rather than an obstacle for small and medium-sized enterprises to enter the green market. It contributes to the development of green competition and compels enterprises to continuously improve green products, lower green premiums, and higher cost performance (Yang, 2025), ultimately promoting the longer-term growth of green consumption.
4) Two-way feedback loop: The upgrading of green consumption in reverse drives the iteration of digital green technologies
Digital technology innovation drives the upgrading of green consumption, while the expansion of green consumption demand forms a reverse traction (Yu & Chen, 2026). When a large number of consumers have demands for carbon footprint inquiries, low-carbon behavior measurement, and circular trading, the market will force enterprises and platforms to continuously iterate digital green technologies such as carbon accounting, blockchain traceability, and carbon accounts. Problems exposed in market practice, such as non-unification of data standards and non-interworking of cross-platform points, further promote the standardized development of digital green technology, forming a dynamic feedback loop of “digital technology innovation → green consumption upgrading → new demand generation → digital technology iteration” (as shown in Figure 1).
Figure 1. The mechanism of digital technology innovation driving the upgrading of green consumption.
4. Empirical Research Evidence, Heterogeneous Characteristics and the “Green Consumption Paradox”
At present, most empirical analyses on digital technology innovation have proved that it has a significant promoting effect on the upgrading of green consumption. From a macro perspective, the growth of regional green consumption driven by digital technology itself has spatial spillover effects. It will benefit adjacent regions simultaneously through market mechanisms and demonstration effects, making it easier for green consumption to develop in a coordinated manner. The transmission logic mainly focuses on structural improvement, transaction convenience, and cognitive enhancement (Xie, 2024). If we start from the micro level, use digital means to transmit information or use algorithms to guide choices, we can bring green consumption into the category of individual behavior, and put sustainable consumption into practice and promote it (Zhao & Kong, 2026).
The empowerment facilitated by digital technology has a very obvious multi-dimensional heterogeneity. In terms of regions and urban-rural areas, the eastern regions and cities can better leverage technological advantages due to their more complete digital facilities, more mature green markets, and higher digital literacy among citizens. Obstacles such as the digital divide and market absence encountered by the central and western regions or rural areas make it difficult to fully realize the achievements of green digitalization (Li et al., 2024). According to the characteristics of different groups, people who have a certain understanding of numbers and environmental protection are more suitable for low-carbon consumption patterns. However, the elderly or those with low digital literacy have difficulties in using them. This has led to an imbalance in the development of green consumption (Wang & Jin, 2025).
At the same time, digital technology enabling green consumption has a dual nature (Wang, 2026), and the fact that the “green consumption paradox” and the rebound phenomenon exist is generally accepted in academia. The flow-based algorithm used by the platform may induce green-washing marketing, and the resulting green consumption is mostly superficial and symbolic. The convenience of digital consumption itself greatly reduces the consumption threshold, which is easy to lead to irrational consumption, and the new carbon emissions of logistics or packaging will partially offset the environmental protection achievements. In addition, the so-called moral license (Wang, 2020), algorithm deviation and high energy consumption of digital computing power (Chen et al., 2024) all form obstacles to green consumption transformation, which are practical difficulties or potential risks that must be considered when promoting consumption reform in the digital era.
5. Research Comment
At present, several studies have made preliminary discussions on how digital technology promotes the upgrading of green consumption. By applying multi-disciplinary theories and macro or micro data for verification, the positive effects, spatial spillover and multi-dimensional heterogeneity of digital technology have been included in the scope of investigation, thus providing basic support for both theory and reality. However, the involved research still has significant shortcomings: generally, static and linear analysis methods are adopted, and there is still a lack of systematic explanations for the dynamic interaction between the two and the nonlinear threshold. The research perspective focuses on the demonstration of positive impacts, while there are relatively few quantitative studies on negative phenomena such as greenwashing, consumption rebound, and moral licensing. At the same time, the measurement of core variables has not been unified, and the results of various studies are not easy to be directly compared. Moreover, it is basically one-way thinking in economics, and the interdisciplinary integration is not deep enough.
In view of the current limitations of the research, it should be supplemented and improved from multiple perspectives in the future. Theoretically, we should abandon the simple static analysis approach and focus on examining the nonlinear and dynamic coupling relationships involved in digital technology promoting the upgrading of green consumption, and distinguish the respective action paths of various digital means. Empirically, it focuses on negative outcomes such as the green consumption paradox and the rebound phenomenon, conducts more detailed quantitative processing, explains their formation background, restrictive conditions and special manifestations, and provides a more complete explanation for the sources of heterogeneity. At the same time, it is necessary to unify the measurement methods of core variables, improve the empirical design by using micro-data or behavioral experiments, promote interdisciplinary collaboration, integrate the analysis of each part in a systematic way, and think in combination with digital technology, green consumption, the dual carbon goals and domestic demand growth, and propose corresponding theoretical support plans.
6. Conclusion
Digital technology innovation is the fundamental driving force for the systematic upgrade of green consumption. It can improve the status of green products, adjust the way of consumption judgment, and promote a circular consumption ecosystem. Therefore, it is conducive to guiding residents’ consumption onto a low-carbon, high-quality and sustainable development track. The phenomenon of digital empowerment has its own regional, urban-rural and group particularities, and is also limited by factors such as green-washing, consumption rebound and the digital divide. At present, academic discussions generally adopt static or linear approaches, and the analysis of nonlinear evolution and negative outcomes is still incomplete. In the future, the positive effects and potential risks of digital technology should be taken into account simultaneously. Efforts should be made in governance, systems and digital popularization to prevent green consumption from falling into a paradox, so that the integration of digital and green can achieve practical results, drive the improvement of consumption quality and the expansion of domestic demand, and move forward in tandem with the “dual carbon” approach.
Funding
1) 2026 University Students Scientific Research Training Program Project of Beijing (Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology-URT 2026J00040): Research on the Intrinsic Mechanism of Macro Policies, Digital Technology Innovation and Green Consumption Upgrading.
2) Scientific Research Project of Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology (H2025-284): Digital Innovation Project of Urban Greening Management.