ARTICLE
30 June 2026

Driving Low-Carbon Transition in the Energy Sector through Digital Transformation: Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategic Responses

Zihao Liu1
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1 Party School of the CPC Shaanxi Provincial Committee, Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi, China
SDS 2026 , 2(3), 158–164; https://doi.org/10.26689/SDS.v2i3.16173
© 2026 by the Author(s). Licensee: Bio-Byword Scientific Publishing Pty Ltd, Australia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Under the twin forces of global carbon neutrality pledges and the rapid expansion of the digital economy, traditional energy industries are caught between the urgent need to decarbonize and the imperative to upgrade operations. In this paper, we systematically examine the main opportunities and obstacles brought by digital transformation to the energy sector, and propose concrete optimization measures. Our analysis reveals that digitalization can significantly improve production efficiency, enable better allocation of clean energy, and reduce market inefficiencies. However, challenges such as technological path dependency, high upfront costs, and data security risks remain critical bottlenecks. We aim to provide actionable insights for policymakers and industry practitioners who are advancing the low-carbon energy transition.

Keywords
Low-carbon transition
Digital transformation
Energy industry
Energy efficiency
References

[1]   Sun X, Li Z, Guo C, 2026, Low Carbon Transition Effects of the Digital Economy in Chinese Cities—The Perspectives of Green Technology Innovation and Energy Efficiency. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 13(1): 6778.

[2]   Song F, 2025, The Effects of Digital Transformation on Corporate Energy Efficiency: A Supply Chain Spillover Perspective. Frontiers in Sustainability, 6: 1567413.

[3]   Tang B, Chen J, Ji C, Zhang Y, 2026, Bytes Into Watts: Input–Output Tracking of Energy Sector Digitalization and Its Decarbonization Effect. Energy Policy, 212: 115157.

[4]   Bergman N, Foxon TJ, 2025, Policy Implications of Digitalization Pathways for Lower Energy Demand. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 21(1): 2531628.

[5]   Wang Z, Liu H, 2025, Forecasting Heterogeneous Risk Diffusion in the Carbon Neutral Integrated Energy System: A Case Study of China. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 29(4): 70071.

 

Conflict of interest
The author declares no conflict of interest.
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