Is digitalization conducive to promoting carbon reduction in cultivated land use while empowering high-quality socio-economic development and intelligent territorial spatial planning? Derived from China’s provincial panel data from the period 2011 to 2019, in this paper, we employ a fixed-effect model to study the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions from cultivated land use and apply an intermediary-effect model to estimate the impact that the structure of the digital economy has on carbon emissions from cultivated land use.

Land is the key asset in the agricultural sector and hence land policy is one of the key elements that determine whether SDGs are achieved in developing counties or not. In developing countries, land titling programs have been seen as a strategy for addressing SDGs. Even though the government of Ethiopia launched the rural land registration and certification program (LRCP) to secure the land rights of rural households in 1998, currently, there are limited empirical studies to examine the contribution of LRCP in addressing sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Green development is necessary for building high-quality modern economic systems. Due to limited land resources, ensuring the ecological benefits will not be damaged while developing the economy is necessary, as is improving urban land green use efficiency (ULGUE). Lanzhou-Xining Urban Agglomeration is a crucial urban agglomeration in the upper reaches of the Yellow River Basin. The improvement of ULGUE can promote the integrated management of the region’s land and achieve harmonious development with the social economy.