How the Internet Affects China’s Green Consumption Development: Empirical Research Based on Baidu Index Data

Green consumption falls short in China’s overall green economic and social transformation. There is a consensus to activate the potential of green consumption through the Internet. However, limited by the availability of green consumption data, few empirical studies focus on the impact of the Internet on green consumption. Based on the 2016–2020 Baidu Index of green consumption in 31 provinces and cities in China, this paper uses a fixed effect model with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors to assess the impact of the Internet on China’s green consumption development and its impact mechanism. The results showed that improved Internet access capability and the development of the e-government play a significant role in promoting green consumption. The former helps to reduce the cost of consumers’ information acquisition, while the latter helps to strengthen market supervision and improve the market environment. E-commerce has a significant negative impact on the development of green consumption, mainly because the existing e-commerce model is not conducive to the development of consumer trust. The impact of digital payment is not significant. Therefore, to achieve multi-governance and improve the Internet by activating green consumption, government departments need to promote the innovation of marketing models and strengthen the platform’s supervision.