Digital service trade injects new impetus into global economic growth, and its carbon emission reduction effect has become an important support for all countries to achieve carbon peak. Based on the OECD database, this paper investigates the impact of digital service trade on embodied carbon emissions in trade, and clarifies in depth the transmission channel through which digital service trade affects embodied carbon emission intensity, inter-industry input-output structure between bilateral countries, and bilateral trade value added. The study finds that the development of digital service trade exerts a significant inhibitory effect on embodied carbon emissions in trade. The relative changes in bilateral carbon emission intensity, bilateral technological structure, and bilateral final demand constitute the main pathways. Among them, the carbon emission intensity effect of digital service trade is the most significant, the technological structure effect exerts the greatest impact, while the final demand effect is the weakest. Furthermore, digital service trade also produces a significant negative impact on embodied carbon emissions in trade in China's context. The development of digital service trade provides a coordinated path for trade globalization and global climate governance. Accordingly, the paper proposes that China should explore differentiated industrial strategies for digital service trade development and construct a China model for carbon emission reduction in digital service trade. This can help China cope with potential trade conflicts triggered by carbon trade policies of European and American countries, and facilitate the achievement of China's dual carbon goals.