The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) is an experimental location of high-quality holistic growth in China and an important area for realizing the “dual carbon” goal. Utilizing panel data from 27 important municipalities in the YRD urban agglomeration from 2010 to 2020, the fixed-effect model is used to evaluate the stage of advancement in the digital economy on urban emission levels. As an intermediary variable, industrial structure modification was tested to see how the digital economy affected local dioxide emissions. The results show that: (1) After an array of robustness tests, the overall impact on both core variables is inverted U-shaped, facilitating and then constraining emissions; (2) As part of its function in cutting emissions, the digital economy also impacts the industrial framework, which has an indirect, nonlinear, U-shaped effect on the intensity of regional dioxide emissions; (3) Looking further, regions with high levels of government spending and investment in innovation are those where carbon emissions are most clearly affected by digitalization. There is still opportunity for evolution and optimization of the YRD region’s energy consumption process. The study’s findings expand our comprehension of the factors that influence high-quality community growth as well as how the digital economy works to support it.