Across 279 Chinese cities, researchers have found that the digital age is reshaping not only how cities function, but how lightly they tread upon the earth — though not all cities are invited equally into this transformation. The adoption of digital technologies measurably improves urban environmental efficiency, yet the gains cluster around cities already endowed with industrial weight, logistical centrality, or protected ecological status. What emerges is a familiar human pattern: tools that promise universal progress tend first to reward those already positioned to receive them, leaving the