Abstract
In light of the global low-carbon transition and the spread of digital technology, carbon allowances have transformed from compliance costs into tradable value-generating carbon assets for high-emission firms. However, the micro mechanisms driving carbon asset value appreciation have not been well studied. Using an unbalanced panel of China’s A-share energy enterprises (2010–2024), this study employs two-way fixed effects, bootstrap mediation tests, multi-period DID and instrumental variable estimation to examine how corporate digital transformation affects carbon asset fair value, alongside its channels and boundary conditions. Our results indicate that digital transformation significantly increases the carbon asset fair value, and this main finding is robust to a series of endogeneity and robustness tests. Mechanism analyses show that green innovation is not a valid mediation channel (contemporaneously, at one-year or two-year lags), nor does the carbon-management-efficiency channel have statistical significance in the final sample, and that the positive total effect mainly proceeds via the direct channel.Two main findings arise from heterogeneity. First, the digital transformation value premium is higher for non-state-owned, high-carbon-intensity and SMEs, plus firms in carbon trading pilot provinces, but regional gaps are only marginally significant. Second, carbon prices are not uniformly moderating. The marginal premium falls monotonically as carbon prices rise and remains positive only at low price tiers, conflicting with real options theory. In this paper, we construct an integrated framework of “digital transformation–carbon asset value”, enrich micro evidence for digital-low-carbon synergy in energy sectors, and propose targeted policy implications for firms and carbon regulators.