Carbon reduction effect of industrial robots : breaking the impasse for carbon emissions and development

With the rapid development of intelligent production technology, using the advantage of industrial robots to promote corporate green development has become an inevitable trend. The study conducts an empirical test using 916 Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2019. Results indicate that industrial robots can effectively reduce firm-level carbon emissions, while technology innovation and internal control promote this effect. Also, robots can suppress corporate carbon emissions by enhancing human capital's level and increasing investment in emission-reduction equipment. Through heterogeneity analysis, this negative effect is more significant in regions with greater carbon reduction pressure and industries with higher capital-to-labor ratios. This paper enriches the related research on intelligent manufacturing and energy saving and provides empirical evidence for the use of intelligent production technology to achieve corporate carbon reduction, which is of great significance in cracking the intrinsic contradiction between emission reduction and development and accelerating the realization of sustainable development.