The implementation of industrial transformation and upgrading demonstration zones has created opportunities for resource-based cities to promote the development of the digital economy. Making full use of preferential policies for demonstration zones and jointly promoting the in-depth integration of the digital economy and demonstration zone policies is of great practical significance for promoting the green transformation of resource-based cities and achieving high-quality regional economic development.

Based on the city-level data from 2007 to 2021, this paper uses a DDD model to investigate the heterogeneity effect of urban green transformation in the digital economy empowerment demonstration zones. It is found that digital-production integration development effectively improves the green TFP level of resource-based cities. Mechanism testing shows that the promoting effect of urban green transformation mainly comes from the improvement of green technology efficiency. At the same time, digital-production integration mainly promotes the green transformation development of resource-based cities by easing capital mismatch and promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. Further research shows that urban green transformation has a significant spatial spillover effect and nonlinear characteristics.

This paper has the following marginal contributions: (1) It analyzes the effect of urban green transformation, deepens the understanding on the coordinated development of the digital economy and demonstration zone policies, and fills the gap of existing literature on the dual perspectives of digital-production integration. (2) It provides evidence that digital-production integration development affects the green transformation of resource-based cities through the two channels of factor resource mismatch and green technology innovation, and provides a useful reference for the government to formulate a reasonable development plan of digital-production integration in the new development stage. (3) It provides policy inspiration and empirical evidence for the government to optimize the development strategy of digital-production integration and promote the green transformation of resource-based cities.